Wild Things lose to Boulders by ‘inches’
They say that baseball is a game of inches and the Wild Things proved as much Friday night.
Locked in a 3-3 tie with New York in the top of the ninth inning, the Boulders’ Isaac Bellony hit a low line drive, inches off the turf, directly at Washington second baseman Jalen Miller, who went to one knee in an attempt to make a backhanded catch. The baseball, however, skipped off Miller’s glove and trickled under his right thigh, inches out of his grasp. Miller had to make two attempts at grabbing the baseball before making a throw to first base, which Bellony beat safely.
Chris Kwitzer, who had flied out twice to the warning track in right centerfield, followed with another long drive, this one over the head of Washington center fielder Caleb McNeely. McNeely turned, raced back to the warning track and made a lunging stretch but the ball glanced off the end of his glove, inches from a catch.
Bellony scored from first base on the play and that was the difference in New York’s 4-3 victory.
Washington forged a 2-0 lead in the first inning against New York starter Blane Traxel (6-3), a former West Virginia University pitcher. McNeely, Traxel’s former teammate at WVU, started the first with an infield single and Tommy Caufield followed with a walk. Wagner Lagrange then hit a sharp single to left field that loaded the bases with no outs.
Tyreque Reed’s sacrifice fly to right field brought McNeely home with the game’s first run. Andrew Czech followed with a bouncer up the middle that New York shortstop Austin Dennis field in front of second base. After running back to tag the bag to force out Lagrange, Dennis’ throw to first base sailed wide, allowing Caufield to score and make it 2-0.
Washington starter Kobe Foster sailed through the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth against a Boulders lineup that leads the Frontier League in runs, batting average and slugging percentage. Former Wild Thing Nick Gotta led off with a Baltimore chop infield single and one out later David Vinsky grounded a hit through the right side.
That brought Bellony, the No. 5 hitter in the Boulders’ lineup, to the plate. The lefty hitter smacked the first pitch from Foster over the wall in right field for a three-run homer that put New York up, 3-2.
Foster pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and three runs. He walked two and struck out 10. It was the fifth consecutive outing in which Foster had double-digit strikeouts, which is believed to be a first in Wild Things history.
Ryan Munoz (3-1) pitched the final two innings.
Washington tied the score at 3-3 when Reed hit an opposite-field home run in the bottom of the sixth. Reed has reached base safely in 19 consecutive games.
Traxel went eight innings, scattering seven hits. He gave up three runs (two earned), walked one and struck out nine. Dylan Smith pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 10th save.
Extra bases
Former Wild Things pitcher Austin Kitchen was promoted to the major leagues Friday by the Miami Marlins. A Mt. Lebanon graduate, Kitchen had been called up by Colorado earlier this season but did not appear in a game before being designated for assignment and being claimed by Miami.