Wild Things hit with loss to Joliet
Dariel Fregio’s ankle got in the way of a hard smash off the bat of Joliet designated hitter Antonio Valdez, and potentially a good time for another sellout crowd, Saturday night at Wild Things Park.
In the second inning of a 4-2 Joliet victory, Fregio, the Wild Things’ starting pitcher, was struck just above the right ankle by a wicked shot back up the middle by Valdez. The ball ricocheted toward first base, and as Valdez ended up with an infield single Fregio fell to the ground clutching his lower leg. He stayed there for several minutes.
Washington manager Tom Vaeth and trainer Hailey Drollinger rushed to the mound to check on Fregio.
“He was adamant about staying in the game,” Vaeth said of his pitcher.
Fregio eventually stood up and walked around the mound a couple of times before making three throws from the mound, showing Vaeth that he could pitch.
Fregio stayed in the game, but the damage had been done.
Valdez’s hit gave Joliet runners on first and second with no outs. Fregio, playing with the gimpy ankle, got Joliet’s Drew Stengren to fly out on his first pitch after play resumed, but the Slammers then strung together consecutive singles by Victor Nova, Jake Allgeyer and Liam McArthur to push across three runs.
Fregio left the game after the third inning.
“I could tell he was wincing and was gimpy on the leg,” Vaeth said. “After the third inning we decided not to force it. Sometimes when a pitcher has something bothering him, he alters his delivery and then hurts something else. It’s only the first week of June so we’re going to err on the side of caution.”
The three-run lead was enough for Joliet because five Slammers pitchers combined on a five-hitter and cut short a couple of scoring opportunities for the Wild Things.
Joliet starter Geno Encina, who had spent the past five years in the Mexican League, made his Joliet debut and tossed three scoreless innings, allowing one hit.
“He pitched for me in 2018 when I managed Southern Illinois,” Joliet manager Mike Pinto pointed out. “I knew he could pitch here.”
Zach Grace, who was with the Wild Things in spring training, followed Encina for 2 1/3 innings and gave up both Washington runs. Frank Plesac (3-0) followed with 1 2/3 hitless innings and got out of an inherited tight spot in the sixth inning.
Cameron Smith pitched the eighth inning and Cole Wesneski threw the ninth for his first save.
“The last couple of weeks our bullpen has been good,” Pinto said. “Early in the season it was unpredictable. In this league, our spring training is not long enough to get a good evaluation of pitchers and get guys into roles. We have only three players back from last year, so we didn’t know who could play.”
The Washington bullpen also was called upon to work more innings than usual and was just as good as Joliet’s relief pitchers. Fregio (3-2) exited the game after three innings, meaning the bullpen had to cover the next six.
Relievers Christian James, Frankie Giuliano and Hunter Stevens gave up only two hits over the final six innings. The lone run for the Slammers during that stretch came on a solo home run by Chris Davis in the fifth inning that put Joliet up 4-0.
“The bullpen did a good job,” Vaeth said. “We had one bad inning.”
Washington scored in the bottom of the fifth when Quincy Latimore hit a leadoff double, moved to third base when J.C. Santini flied out and scored on Carson Clowers’ broken-bat single.
The Wild Things pulled to within 4-2 in the sixth as Evan Burkey drew a leadoff walk and scored when Wagner Lagrange doubled to right centerfield.
In the bottom of the ninth, Washington’s Andrew Czech hit a leadoff double that extended the Washington first baseman’s consecutive games on-base streak to 57 games, dating back to last season.
Czech was stranded at third base.
Extra bases
The announced attendance was 3,456. … Washington is 10-1 in road games and 7-7 at home.