Wild Things make their hits count, rally for win
The big red lights on the scoreboard showed for everybody at EQT Park that sometimes it’s not the quantity of hits that matters in baseball. It can be more about the quality and timing of the hits.
When Washington first baseman Andrew Czech stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the fifth inning Thursday night, those red lights showed that Mississippi had 11 hits compared to only three for the Wild Things. Despite the large discrepancy at that point, the Mud Monsters held only a two-run lead.
Czech changed that situation with one mighty swing. He hit a pitch from Mud Monsters starting pitcher Jackson Smith, a sidearming righthander, the opposite way for a three-run homer to left field that gave the Wild Things a one-run lead despite being more than doubled in the hits column.
Washington tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning and Cole Fowler added a solo home run in the eighth as the Wild Things defeated the Mud Monsters, 7-4, to sweep the three-game series.
Washington extended its winning streak to eight games. This victory, however, took a little more work and little more grittiness to accomplish than the first seven in the streak.
“We were down 4-1 but we still had a lot of at-bats left on our side. They had 11 hits, but they were a bunch of singles,” Czech pointed out. “We still had a chance.”
Washington had actually gained some momentum earlier in the fifth inning. Mississippi was on the verge of breaking the game open against Washington starter Zander Sechrist (2-3). The Mud Monsters led 4-1 and had runners on first and second with one out.
It was at that point that Washington manager Tom Vaeth went to the mound and had a one-sided conversation with Sechrist.
“I reminded him that I had let him blow off some steam in the dugout. He wasn’t happy about some of the calls he was getting,” Vaeth explained. “I told him that I needed him to get two zeroes to get us through six innings. The game was still right there for us.”
Sechrist got out of the jam with a little help from his teammates. A.J. Fritz bounced to Fowler at third base and he forced out the lead Mud Monsters runner. Pete Bocchino followed with a single to left center, but Wild Things centerfielder Caleb Ketchup made a strong and accurate throw to rookie catcher Collin Helms, who applied the tag on sliding Andrew Semo for the inning’s final out, keeping the score at 4-1.
“That was a momentum-change play, for sure,” Czech said of Ketchup’s throw.
“That shifted the whole momentum to our side,” Vaeth said. “It got Zander out of the inning, limited the damage and gave us a chance.”
In the bottom of fifth, Ryan Ford drew a leadoff walk and Helms was hit by a pitch. Connor Peek made it 4-2 when he bounced an RBI single up the middle.
Czech followed with his 10th home run of the season and 97th of his career, putting Washington ahead.
Sechrist went back out for the sixth inning and retired the Mud Monsters in order. He was followed on the mound by Kelvin Perez, who retired six of the seven hitters he faced, and Landon Ginn, who pitched the ninth inning for his third save.
Extra bases
Washington scored the game’s opening run in the first inning. Antonio Monroy led off with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Czech, who finished with four RBI. … The Wild Things have a 21-3 record when they score a game’s first run. They are 4-6 when the opponent scores the first run.