Rodriguez does quality work in Wild Things’ win
The progress has been steady for Wild Things pitcher Sebastian Rodriguez.
With every outing, the righthander has moved closer to the form that earned him the independent American Association’s Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award last season when he was with the Milwaukee Milkmen.
After a brief stint as a relief pitcher in the Mexican League this spring, Rodriguez signed with the Wild Things in June and with each outing he has gotten better.
Rodriguez was very good Tuesday in the opener of a three-game series against the New Jersey Jackals. He went seven innings, allowing five hits and one unearned run as the Wild Things rolled to an 11-1 win at EQT Park.
Even with the win, Washington lost ground in the Central Division standings to first-place Lake Erie. The Crushers won the completion of a suspended game at Evansville and defeated the Otters in the regularly scheduled game to move 2 games ahead of the Wild Things.
“I’m working toward that form of last year,” said Rodriguez. “In the Mexican League I was a reliever, so I’ve had to change my routine. (Manager) Tom (Vaeth) asked me if I wanted to be a starter to build up a lot of innings. I’m getting back to the normal work that I do.”
Rodriguez walked four and struck out five in his second quality start. Over his last 16 2/3 innings, Rodriguez has yielded only two earned runs. Each of the Jackals’ five hits were singles.
“I’m getting close to that point that I want to be, but I’m still struggling with a couple of my pitches,” said Rodriguez, who played his final year of college baseball in 2023 in Pittsburgh for Point Park.
“After Point Park, I had an offer to play here, but I wasn’t sure what to do because of my age, so I signed with Milwaukee because I knew some people there,” Rodriguez said. “But I was always thinking that I would play for the Wild Things.”
It was a rare lopsided win in a home game for the Wild Things. Not since a 12-1 thumping of Schaumburg on June 12 have they had such a one-sided win on home turf.
Washington took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against New Jersey righthander Jalon Long (4-5), who entered the game third in the Frontier League in ERA at 2.17. Both of the first-inning runs were unearned as Jackals shortstop Richel Del Roasio, who was a late addition to the starting lineup, booted a grounder by Wild Things leadoff hitter Ben Watson. Tommy Caufield followed with an RBI double to right field.
Caufield (3-for-5) stole third base and made it 2-0 when he scored on a two-out single by Wagner Lagrange.
New Jersey closed to within 2-1 with an unearned run in third. A fielding error on a leadoff grounder hit by Del Rosario was followed by a stolen base and RBI single by Sam Angelo.
The Jackals hurt themselves on the bases in the early innings. In the second, Ryan Ford was thrown out at home plate by Washington right fielder Jeff Liquori. Ford was trying to score on a hit by Jimmy Castin. In the third, Angelo was thrown out at second base by Lagrange when he tried to stretch his single into a double.
The Wild Things pulled away in the bottom of the third, scoring four times for a 6-1 lead. Lagrange and Liquori hit consecutive two-out RBI singles and second baseman Cole Fowler laced a two-run single into right centerfield.
That was enough offensive support for Rodriguez, but the Wild Things added on with a four-run seventh. Liquori, Ethan Wilder and Three Hillier had RBI singles and Ben Watson added a sacrifice fly.
Washington closed the scoring in the eighth when Tyreque Reed was sent home on a balk.
Eight Washington players had at least one hit, 10 reached base safely and six had at least one RBI.
Extra bases
The Wild Things made a series of roster moves Tuesday. They activated Reed from the 14-day disabled list, put pitcher Dominic Puccetti on the 60-day IL, transferred pitcher Jacob McCaskey from the 7-day to the 14-day IL, traded pitcher Tyler Wehrle, who was on the IL, to the Windy City ThunderBolts in exchange for pitcher Dylan Kirkeby. A starting pitcher, Kirkeby has 5-6 record and 4.62 ERA this year playing for Windy City and Schaumburg. Washington also signed catcher Nolan Wilson, who played this spring at Marshall University. Wilson batted .256 with five home runs in his only season at Marshall. He played three years at Nevada. … New Jersey has two former Wild Things: left field Jake Deleo and pitcher Frankie Giuliano. DeLeo played four games for Washington this year. He went 0-for-4 last night and Guliano pitched a scoreless inning of relief.