Jul 23, 2024 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

There remains plenty of baseball to be played in the Frontier League this season, but if the year is to end the way the Wild Things desire, then one troubling trend has to change.

Washington has to find a way to score against, and beat, Lake Erie’s bullpen, especially because eight games remain against the Crushers.

Lake Erie received three more impressive shutout innings from its relief pitchers and hit two home runs for a 4-3 victory over Washington in a series opener Tuesday morning before a Splash Day crowd of 3,570, the largest of the season, at Wild Things Park.

After forging a 4-3 lead in the seventh, Lake Erie turned to its bullpen that on this day included right-handers Christian Scafidi, Sammy Tavarez and Trevor Kuncil. The trio fired three hitless innings with four strikeouts, including three by Scafidi. Kuncil got the final three outs for his 16th save.

Lake Erie is 3-1 in four games against Washington, which saw its lead in the West Division cut to 1½ games over the Crushers. In those four games, Lake Erie relief pitchers have thrown 11 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and striking out 18.

“Those guys are playing above their pay grade,” Lake Erie manager Jared Lemieux said. “They have been fun to watch. Every one of those guys should be in affiliated ball.

“We saw potential in spring training. The guys came in prepared. Some of those guys were coming off rough seasons and they put the work in to get better.”

Lemieux also credited his pitching coach, Jonathan Albajladejo, a former major leaguer, for helping turn the Crushers’ relievers into one of the best units in the league.

Washington manager Tom Vaeth knows that with one of Lake Erie’s strengths being its relief arms, the best way to beat the Crushers is to gain an early lead and play from ahead, which is something the Wild Things didn’t do Tuesday.

“We haven’t been able to generate much offense against them,” Vaeth said. “We’ve played from behind except in the game that we won, which was 1-0.”

Lake Erie forged a 2-0 lead with an unearned run in the second inning and a solo homer by first baseman Vincent Byrd Jr., in the fourth off Washington starter Jordan DiValerio.

Washington tied it in the fourth when Tyreque Reed drew a one-out walk off Lake Erie starter Jack Eisenberg, and Andrew Czech followed with a two-run homer, his 11th of the season, to right centerfield on a 3-2 pitch.

The momentum didn’t long as Jarrod Watkins led off the next half-inning with a solo homer, putting Lake Erie up, 3-2.

DiValerio pitched six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits. He did not issue a walk and struck out six. It was the third time in four starts since the all-star break that a Washington starting pitcher did not walk a batter.

Washington made it 3-3 in the sixth. Tommy Caufield drew a leadoff walk, moved to second base on a balk, stole third and scored on a single by Reed.

Lake Erie broke the tie with a two-out RBI single by Ron Washington Jr., in the top of the seventh inning off Washington reliever Justin Goossen-Brown (1-4), and then turned the game over to its group of hard-throwing relief pitchers, who closed out the win.

“They have a good bullpen, just like we do,” Vaeth said. “Today they were able to eke out a run against our bullpen.”

The game didn’t end without some controversy. In the bottom of the ninth, Czech drew a leadoff walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Carson Clowers. Wagner Lagrange then flew out to right centerfield. After throwing the baseball back to the infield, Lake Erie tossed it to second base and Clowers, who had gone to second on the fly ball before retreating to first base, was called out for not retouching second on his way back to first.

Washington argued that Clowers did not advance past second but third-base umpire Brandon Snyder, who made the out call, did not agree with the argument.

Extra bases

Prior to the game, Washington activated Lagrange off the injured list. To make room for the outfielder, utility player Evan Berkey was released. Berkey was batting .238 in 51 games. Though he played a little more than half a year with the Wild Things, Berkey managed to tie a franchise single-season record. He was hit by a pitch 18 times, tying the mark held by three other players.