Infante, DiValerio play key roles in Wild Things win
To use a baseball scouting term, the Wild Things’ Sammy Infante has all the “tools.”
In other words, he can hit, field, throw and run better than many of his counterparts.
Those “tools” made Infante a second-round draft pick of the Washington Nationals out of high school in Hialeah, Fla., back in 2020. It took a million-dollar signing bonus for Infante to back out of a college commitment to Miami (Fla.) and start his professional career.
The 23-year-old Infante was released by the Nationals after four years, but the “tools” remain. They were on display Tuesday night in the Wild Things’ home opener against the Ottawa Titans at EQT Park.
The Wild Things’ second baseman hit a two-run, go-ahead single in the bottom of the sixth inning and made a strong throw to turn the back end of an inning-ending double play in the seventh. Both plays were key in Washington’s 3-2 victory.
With Washington trailing 2-1 and two outs and nobody on base in the sixth, Washington came up with some magic. Wagner Lagrange singled for his third hit of the game and Tommy Caufield drew a walk off Ottawa reliever Billy Duby (0-1) on the 10th pitch of the at-bat.
Ethan Wilder followed with an infield single that loaded the bases. Infante then laced a single through the right side of the infield that scored Lagrange and Caufield, giving Washington a 3-2 lead.
Wild Things starter Jordan DiValerio (1-0) went six strong innings for the win, allowing only five hits and two runs. He struck out three and did not issue a walk.
The Wild Things’ bullpen, which squandered a big lead in the season opener Friday night at Windy City, was able to protect the one-run lead against the Titans, though the three shutout innings were anything but ordinary.
In the seventh, Washington brought in lefty Ryan Chasse to start the inning. He only threw warmup pitches.
It turned out that Chassee wasn’t listed on the lineup card that was turned in to the umpires and was not allowed to pitch.
Jake Carroll, also a lefty, was summoned from the bullpen and he worked out of a jam with the help of an inning-ending double play. Jackson Hicks tossed the eighth inning as Ottawa stranded two runners in scoring position. They got there with one out but Hicks got a popout to first base and a groundout to Infante to end the threat.
In the ninth, Joelvis Del Rosario struck out all three batters he faced for his first save.
The early part of the game was a pitchers’ duel between DiValerio and Ottawa starter Kaleb Hill.
Hill, a second-year pro who began his career last season with the Gateway Grizzlies, made his third impressive performance against Washington in less than a calendar year. Last June, he tossed six shutout innings for Gateway in a 1-0 win over Washington. Last week, Hill threw three shutout innings in a spring training game against the Wild Things.
Washington finally scored against Hill in the fourth inning and did so by inches. Lagrange sliced an opposite-field solo home run, just inside the right-field foul pole, cutting the Ottawa lead to 2-1.
Lagrange’s first home run of the season ended a string of 12 2/3 scoreless for Hill against the Wild Things.
Ottawa took a 2-0 lead in the third inning against DiValerio, who won 10 games for the Wild Things a year ago. The Titans’ Michael Fuhrman led off the third with a single and Jeremy Piatkiewicz followed with a bunt single. Fuhrman and Piatkiewicz advanced on a sacrifice fly by Jackie Urbaez and scored when Jo Oyama dropped a single into center field.
Extra bases
The Wild Things have a 12-11 record in home openers, winning four of their last five. Attendance was 1,888. … Duby was the losing pitcher on his 25th birthday.