Wild Things get win ahead of key weekend series
It’s always a good sign when the opponent brings a position player in to pitch. That means it’s late in the game, the outcome has been determined and there will a batting-practice fastballs for your team to hit for an inning or two.
So it was an extremely good sign for the Wild Things on Thursday night when the Down East Bird Dawgs brought in second baseman Trotter Harlan to pitch – in the fifth inning.
Washington’s hitters had done their job to that point, forging a 6-0 lead. Down East’s pitching staff was depleted after getting only 3 1/3 innings from its starter Wednesday and having its starter exit with an injury in the second inning of this game.
It’s a good thing Washington had a big lead because Harlan, armed with a low-70s fastball, gave up two hits and one run to the first two Wild Things hitters he faced before retiring the last 12 batters he faced.
Harlan’s emergency relief work meant Washington had to settle for a 7-4 victory as the Bird Dawgs scored three times in the top of the ninth.
Though Harlan’s efforts were an interesting footnote to the game, it was what new Washington starting pitcher Kenten Egbert did that was the main storyline.
Egbert (1-0) was signed and became the 18th different pitcher to start a game for the Wild Things this season. He made one of its best debuts.
The former Chicago Cubs farmhand tossed five shutout innings, allowing only two singles and one walk. He retired the first eight batters he faced and became the first Washington starting pitcher to begin a game with five scoreless innings since Zach Kirby did so on June 23.
Ebert made two starts in the Cubs’ farm system this year, including one at Class AAA Iowa. He made a three-inning start for Class A South Bend. This was his longest outing since throwing 8 2/3 innings in his final outing of the 2025 season.
“It was long enough ago that I felt it after five innings,” Egbert admitted.
A starting pitcher with some success in his first two years in the Cubs’ farm system, winning 14 games over that period, Egbert was moved to the bullpen this year and shuttled between Class A South Bend and Class AAA Iowa before being released recently.
“He was eager to go back to being a starter,” Washington manager ToM Vaeth said. ‘He had two good years in the Cubs organization. The stuff is obviously there as a starter. The thing for us is to get him stretched out as much as possible because he’s going to start (next week) at Mississippi.”
Washington took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Ryan Ford drew a walk and scored when Andrew Czech laced a double to the gap in left centerfield.
Down East starter Jose Moreno exited the game with an apparent injury in the second inning after giving up consecutive one-out singles to Billy Sullivan and Kyle Edwards and falling behind in the count 2-0 to Antonio Monroy.
Jack Hagan relieved Moreno and gave up an RBI-single to Monroy. Ford followed with a groundout that scored Edwards and made it 3-0.
Jeff Liquori hit a two-run homer down the left-field line in the third inning. It was Liquori’s 12th homer of the season and made it a 5-0 game.
Czech and Liquori hit consecutive doubles in the fourth to make it 6-0. Harlan entered in the sixth and gave up a double to Cole Fowler, who was the first batter he faced. Sullivan followed with an RBI single and it was 7-0.
Down East ended the shutout bid in the eighth when Colby Backus smacked a solo homer off the scoreboard against Zander Sechrist, who pitched three innings in relief. The Bird Dawgs added three runs in the ninth against Branden Noriega.
The Wild Things begin a key weekend series at home against Evansville. The Otters and Florence, which has won 11 in a row, both trail the Central Division-leading Wild Things by six games.
“This is a bigger series than one in June,” Vaeth said. “(Evansville) is one of the teams right behind us. They have been the ones chasing us all year. They’re not going to give us any breathing room and I think the boys know that, so they’ll be ready to play.”
Extra bases
Egbert, who is from Tripp City, Ohio and played college ball at Miami (Ohio), was signed after starting pitcher Kelvin Perez (5-2 3.78) was placed on the 7-day injured list on Wednesday. Jack Brodsky (3-1, 4.29) is eligible to come off the IL on Sunday. Washington is playing with 24 active players, one under the Frontier League limit.