Jun 27, 2026 By Chris Dugan 3 min read

The Wild Things hit four home runs Friday night and Kobe Foster pitched six innings of one-run ball.

That has been a winning formula for Washington for years, but not this week.

For the second consecutive night, the Wild Things were unable to protect a late lead and lost in extra innings.

Pinch-runner Peyton Carr raced home from third base with the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the top of the 10th inning as Joliet rallied for a 6-5 win in a series opener at EQT Park.

It is the third extra-innings loss for Washington this week.

The loss came on the heels of an 11-inning, sudden-death setback against Windy City on Thursday.

It is the first time Washington has lost back-to-back games since May 20-21 against Florence.

“We’re not doing the little things right to win ballgames,” said Washington manager Tom Vaeth. “We’re not holding leads and not doing a lot of things right.”

What Joliet did right was string together four consecutive hits in the seventh inning against Washington reliever Will Rettig, a rookie from Denison University. The last hit was a three-run homer by Cam Suto that capped a four-run inning and gave the Slammers a 5-4 lead.

Washington forced extra innings when second baseman Antonio Monroy hit a home run to right centerfield with one out in the bottom of the ninth. The home run came on Monroy’s 29th birthday.

In the 10th inning, Carr entered the game as the tiebreaker runner at second base. Suto was hit by a pitch from reliever Chad Coles (1-1) and Cardell Thibodeaux, playing his first game with Joliet, was able to advance both runners by getting down a sacrifice bunt on a 3-2 pitch.

“The game was on the line. I’ve been in this ballpark enough to know that one run is not going to be enough, so when we had first and second I wanted to get both over and hope that we get one to fall,” Joliet manager Mike Pinto explained about keeping the bunt on with two strikes on Thibodeaux.

A wild pitch that went to the backstop allowed Carr to race home with the go-ahead run. Coles was able to get two strikeouts to avoid further damage.

Washington, just as it had done in two extra innings Thursday night, was unable to advance its tiebreaker runner as Joliet reliever Casey O’Dell, a rookie out of Florida Southern, was able to get a groundout to the left side of the infield, a strikeout and game-ending flyout for his first professional save.

Shaun Gamelin (1-3), the sixth of seven Joliet pitchers, was the winner.

“We had to win that game,” Pinto said. “This is a tough ballpark to win in and the coaches were playing a game of chess, hoping to make the right move.”

Washington forged an early 4-1 lead. Andrew Czech had an RBI single in the first inning, Kyle Edwards hit a solo homer in the fourth, and Czech and Caleb Ketchup hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth. All four Washington homers were the solo variety.

Czech’s home run was the 99th of his Frontier League career, tying him for third place on the all-time list with teammate Anthony Brocato.

Foster scattered five hits and three walks in his six innings. He struck out four.

Extra bases

The series continues today with a doubleheader beginning at 5:05 p.m. Washington has not listed a starting pitcher for either game. … Brocato remains on the 7-day injured list with a hamstring injury.