May 26, 2024 By Chris Dugan 3 min read

For more than a week, the Wild Things could not lose, winning nine consecutive games.

Then, in two weekend games against Gateway, the Wild Things suddenly couldn’t score.

Gateway shut out Washington 4-0 Sunday evening in a game that was called because of rain in the seventh inning. That loss came on the heels of a 2-0 Grizzlies win Saturday night.

Somebody check Lost and Found, maybe the Wild Things’ offense is there.

Washington mustered only two hits against five Gateway pitchers Saturday and were blanked on four hits in the series finale. Those performances came after Washington won the series opener Friday night for their ninth consecutive victory.

Wild Things manager Tom Vaeth said the two shutouts looked too much like his team’s performances when it was swept by Schaumburg in the season-opening series.

“We didn’t have real good approaches,” Vaeth said of his hitters. “We reverted back to some bad habits. … Popout, strikeout, popout, strikeout, take a called third strike. There is a definite pattern in the games we’ve lost and the games we’ve won.”

Washington had four hits against Ryne Moore (1-1), who was activated off the injured list earlier in the game. For the first time in two days, the Wild Things advanced a runner to third base. That was with one out in the fourth inning, when Tyreque Reed – he had both of Washington’s hits Saturday — walked and advanced when Andrew Czech doubled to center field.

The Wild Things, however, failed to score as Moore got a strikeout and popout that ended the threat.

Gateway scored two runs in the third inning and two more in the fifth against Washington starter Jordan DiValerio (2-1). In both innings, the Grizzlies had a leadoff hit. Gateway was able to put its leadoff hitter on base in nine of the last 15 innings in the series. Washington pitchers retired the first three batters in only one inning during that same stretch but were able to get out of numerous jams.

“That’s not a good recipe for success when you’re facing a team like that,” Vaeth said. “We’re going to be seeing Gateway a lot coming up, so we have to make some adjustments.”

In the second inning, Kevin Krause hit a two-run double on a 3-2 pitch that gave Gateway a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth, Krause doubled home Andrew Moritz from first base, and Krause scored when D.J. Stewart doubled to right centerfield to make the score 4-0.

Play was stopped after the top of the seventh inning before it began raining. Following a delay of 69 minutes, and with a rainbow shining in the sky above left field, the decision was made to end the game.

Extra bases

Washington pitchers walked only one batter in the series. … Gateway is one of three current Frontier League teams that were in the league when Washington entered it in 2002. Since then, the Wild Things and Grizzlies have met 124 times with each team winning 62 games. … Washington begins a six-game road trip Tuesday at Evansville.