Home runs, Kirby’s pitching put Wild Things on brink of division title
Anthony Brocato and Andrew Czech are called the Bash Brothers by diehard Wild Things fans.
Opposing pitchers simply call them terrifying.
Brocato and Czech, who have spent the last four months hitting balls over walls, were at it again Tuesday night at EQT Park and this time they had some help from Wagner Lagrange’s bat and Zach Kirby’s pitching arm.
Brocato and Czech got Washington started by hitting back-to-back home runs, Lagrange had the game’s key hit – a seventh-inning grand slam – and Kirby threw seven shutout innings as the Wild Things defeated Gateway 7-0 and moved to the brink of the Frontier League’s Central Division title.
The Washington victory, combined with Down East’s 7-6 walk-off win over Evansville, reduced the Wild Things’ magic number for clinching the division title to 1. The next Washington win or Evansville loss will give the Wild Things the top seed for the Midwest Conference playoffs. There are five days remaining in the regular season.
Washington manager Tom Vaeth has moved Brocato and Czech around in the batting order all season. One day Brocato is hitting in front of Czech, the next it’s Czech hitting first. It hasn’t mattered what order the Bash Brothers have batted in because each player has produced as they’ve threatened several league records.
Czech gave Washington a 1-0 lead when he led off the second inning with a 421-foot home run to the parking lot beyond right field off Gateway starter Gage Vailes (5-6). The blast, which was Czech’s 26th of the season, was well struck, exiting at 109 mph.
Czech leads the Frontier League with 101 RBI.
Brocato followed with his league-leading 35th home run, a towering shot down the left-field line.
It was the third time this year the duo has hit back-to-back homers.
Brocato’s home run moved him to within one of the Frontier League single-season record set by former major leaguer Morgan Burkhart in 1998. It was Brocato’s 123rd homer in his Frontier League career, four shy of Charlie Lisk’s league record.
“We get pitched similarly, so it doesn’t matter which order we’re hitting in,” Brocato said. “One provides protection for the other, and that’s nice to have. It has helped, for sure.”
Kirby (8-1) allowed only four hits over seven innings. He walked two and struck out six.
Gateway had chances to get to Kirby but couldn’t get a key hit. The Grizzlies stranded six baserunners in the first four innings and went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position in the game.
“The key was Kirby picking his tempo up,” Vaeth said. “Early in the game, things dragged, which impacts your offense. He was able to get us back in the dugout quickly. He had a four-pitch inning.”
Washington pushed the lead to 3-0 in the sixth. Miles Simington drew a leadoff walk and moved to third base when Czech lined a hard one-out single to right field. Simington then raced home and scored on a wild pitch.
The Wild Things secured the win in the seventh. They loaded the bases with two outs on a single by Cole Fowler and walks to Isaias Quiroz and Simington. Lagrange then belted a grand slam to left centerfield off Gateway reliever Albert Rivas, making it 7-0. It was Lagrange’s fifth home run of the season and third in as many games.
“Wagner getting hot gives us another bat in the middle,” Brocato said. “We can go right, left, right in the middle of the order.
“Early in August, we weren’t playing our best baseball and said we need to get hot in September.”
Extra bases
San Francisco Giants outfielder Turner Hill, who this year became the first former Wild Things position player to advance to the major leagues, batted leadoff for the Giants last night and had three hits against Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and went 4-for-5 in the game at PNC Park. … Colt Anderson and Michael O’Hanlon finished the shutout, each tossing a scoreless inning of relief. … Lagrange’s grand slam was the eighth allowed by Gateway pitchers. … It was Washington’s 11th shutout win. … The Wild Things will try to clinch the division title tonight at 6:05 p.m. … Washington has hit 131 home runs, breaking the franchise record of 128 by the 2009 team.