Chatham’s walk-off single gives Wild Things extra-inning win
It took the Wild Things 15 hours to travel via bus from Pearl, Miss., where they ended a 10-game road trip Sunday night, to Washington, arriving Monday afternoon.
It seemed like it was going to take another 15 hours to complete the Wild Things’ game Tuesday morning against Evansville. It was completed, but with two rain delays and an extra inning.
Third baseman Cael Chatham, one of the travel-weary Wild Things, ended the Kids Day game in the bottom of the 10th inning when he lined a single to right field that scored pinch-runner Tyler Young, giving Washington a 6-5 victory.
The Wild Things started the day a half-game behind Lake Erie in the Central Division standings. Lake Erie hosted Schaumburg on Tuesday night.
It was a somewhat painful day for Chatham, who reached base four times, twice after being hit by pitches.
With the score tied 5-5, Evansville began the top of the 10th with the tiebreaker runner on second base. Washington reliever Andrew Herbert (3-0) walked Pavin Parks, who was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, to start the inning but ended it scoreless when he got L.J. Jones to ground out with a runner on third base.
The bottom of the 10th started with Washington’s Jeff Liquori as the tiebreaker runner and Kadon Morton batting. Washington manager Tom Vaeth had his plan ready for the inning.
“When we were in the dugout before the inning, Tom came up to me and said we’re bunting the runner over and you’ll come up and pull through for us,” Chatham recalled. “Tom believing in me gave me a confidence boost.”
Chatham has been short on that asset lately as his batting average had dipped to .184 entering the day.
Morton put down a bunt that was fielded by Evansville first baseman David Menham, whose throw to third base was too late to retire Liquori. The Washington right fielder was injured on the play and replaced by Young.
Chatham then stepped to the plate with a boost of confidence and hit a pitch from Evansville reliever Alex Valdez (2-3) for the game-winner.
“What a game!” Chatham said. “That game had a little of everything.”
Washington erased an early 4-0 deficit, went ahead 5-4 in the seventh when Robert Chayka scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Czech, then saw Evansville tie it in the eighth against reliever Hector Garcia, who did a Houdini act to keep the score at 5-5. Evansville scored on two singles and a fielder’s choice and had two on with no outs. Garcia then struck out the next three Otters.
“He found a way to minimize it, which is hard for a young pitcher,” Vaeth said. “He put himself in that situation, but he got us back to the dugout with the score tied.”
Evansville built its 4-0 against Washington starter Zach Kirby. In the third, Ellis Schwartz doubled and scored on a single by Mendham. In the fourth, Parks hit a two-run homer and one batter later play was stopped for 42 minutes because of rain. When play resumed, Keenan Taylor drove in Graham Brown with a triple.
After sleepwalking through the first three innings, Washington’s hitters got a wakeup call in the bottom of the fourth. Wagner Lagrange, who missed the last 10 games because of a knee injury, hit a solo homer off Otters starter Garret Simpson.
In the fifth, Jake Houtz, a rookie who was signed Tuesday out of Mansfield University, singled and Chatham doubled. The throw from the outfield to second base got away, allowing Houtz to score. Another Evansville error set up Chayka’s sacrifice fly and Czech’s run-scoring double that made it 4-4.
Though his team got a much-needed win, Vaeth wasn’t happy with the hitting. Washington left 12 runners on base.
“The bottom line is we’re not hitting as a team,” he said. “Our plate discipline is not good. … We’re out of sync. That’s the way it has been for a while. Nothing is going easily for us. We’re not getting consistent offense and haven’t for a while.”
Extra bases
The start of the game was delayed 51 minutes because of rain. … Evansville has lost a season-high seven in a row and is 4-18 on the road. … Lagrange was 2-for-3, raising his batting average to .355.