Gateway holds off Wild Things in Game 1
SAUGET, Ill. – Abdiel Diaz hit a tiebreaking home run in the sixth inning and Claudio Galva threw five shutout innings of relief as the Gateway Grizzlies edged the Wild Things 6-5 in a Frontier League wild-card playoff game Wednesday night at Arsenal BG Ballpark.
Gateway takes a 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 series and put Washington on the brink of elimination. The Wild Things will host Game 2 on Friday at EQT Park and Game 3, if necessary, on Saturday.
The game started well for the Wild Things as Ben Watson hit the third pitch of the night for a leadoff home run. Gateway did the same thing in the bottom of the first when Dale Thomas led off with a home run.
Washington led 3-1 in the second inning, getting RBI singles by Charles Mack and Watson, but its offense disappeared in the middle innings against Galva, who replaced starter Gage Vailes in the third. Gateway tied it at 3-3 in the third against Washington starter Zach Kirby and went ahead on Diaz’s solo homer in the sixth.
Kirby went six innings, allowing eight hits and four runs (three earned). He did not issue a walk and struck out three.
The Grizzlies tacked on two runs in the seventh on a book-rule double by Gabe Holt that made the score 6-3.
Washington tried to rally in the top of the ninth as Andrew Czech and Wagner Lagrange had singles and Mack drove both runners in with a two-out double off the left-field wall.
Keegan Collett gave up Mack’s double but got the final two outs for a save.