Wild Things bury Brockton with home runs
At various stops in his baseball career, Eli Majick has been known as the “Slim Reaper” because of his 6-7 and 210-pound frame.
A left-handed pitcher for the Brockton Rox, Majick has been killing it in recent starts. He allowed one run over six innings last week against Sussex County and has two quality starts in his last four outings. Majick has helped Brockton approach the .500 mark for the first time ever this late in a season.
On Friday night, however, Washington’s hitters buried Majick’s start and the Rox with home runs.
Caleb Ketchup and Cole Fowler hit three-run homers, Anthony Brocato added his league-leading 19th home run and the Wild Things defeated Brockton 7-3 in a series opener Friday night at EQT Park.
It was the first in a six-game series, the weekend three in Washington and the next three, beginning Tuesday, in Massachusetts.
The game didn’t start well for Washington. The Wild Things loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first inning but failed to score after a strikeout and two popouts.
Brockton jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second on a home run by left fielder Tommy Ketzler off Washington starter Jack Brodsky, but the Wild Things weren’t about to reach for the panic button.
“That was not a good start for the good guys,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “We were confident. We saw (Majick) last year with Florence, so we knew what we were up against and knew we’d have opportunities.”
The Wild Things had plenty of chances. They had at least one at-bat with a runner in scoring position in each of the first seven innings. They cashed in on only two of those situations, but they did plenty of damage.
In the third, Andrew Czech hit a two-out single and Wagner Lagrange worked a walked. That brought up Ketchup, who played shortstop on this night. Ketchup drove a Majick pitch off the lower part of the scoreboard beyond the left centerfield wall for a three-run homer and a 3-2 Washington lead.
In the fifth, Brocato led off with a long home run to center field. The 419-foot blast tied Brocato for the league lead with Trois-Rivieres’ Emmanuel Tapia at 19 home runs. It was Brocato’s 107th homer in the Frontier League and moved him to within 20 of record holder Charlie Lisk (2006-12).
Czech followed Brocato’s home run with a walk and Ketchup also drew a free pass with one out. Fowler then went the opposite way for a three-run homer to left field that staked the Wild Things to a 7-2 lead.
“Both of those crooked innings included a walk,” Vaeth pointed out. “That shows that if you’re making the pitcher throw pitches in the strike zone, and are willing to take walks and set things up for the next guy in the lineup, then good things will happen.”
Brodsky gave up a solo homer to Eddie Javier Jr., the Rox’s No. 9 hitter, in the sixth. Brodsky went seven innings, scattering eight hits and giving up three runs, getting credit for a quality start. He walked three and struck out four.
Colt Anderson and Eldridge Armstrong followed Brodsky, each tossing one perfect inning.
Extra bases
Brockton pitching coach Dan Sausville was ejected by home plate umpire Nicholas Webb in the eighth inning for arguing a called third strike against Evan Sleight. … This is the 22nd series for the Wild Things and they improved their record in openers to 17-5.