Liquori back with homer, but Wild Things’ winning streak ends
Though manager Tom Vaeth begs to differ, there is only one rule for the Wild Things during their weekend series against the Schaumburg Boomers that closes the regular season: Don’t get hurt.
Forget the wins. Forget the losses. Forget the statistics. With the Frontier League playoffs starting Wednesday, and the Wild Things having secured the Midwest Conference’s top seed, Washington needs to stay healthy. They need an injury about as much as Western Pennsylvania streams and rivers need more rain.
This is also the time when a playoff team can get a boost from the return of a player to the active roster following a stint on the injured list. That’s what the Wild Things hope they get from right fielder Jeff Liquori, who was activated on Friday and had two at-bats in Washington’s win over Schaumburg.
On Saturday, Liquori was in the starting lineup and went 2-for-4, including a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning.
Liquori’s return wasn’t quite enough for the Wild Things as Schaumburg held on for a 6-5 victory at EQT Park. The loss snapped Washington’s seven-game winning streak. It was the Wild Things’ first loss of the season to Schaumburg in eight meetings.
Liquori had been on the injured list since mid-August with a broken right thumb suffered in a game at Mississippi when he attempted to make a diving catch. He did not take batting practice until Tuesday. Liquori said the thumb is uncomfortable, but it’s not painful.
“It’s good,” Liquori said. “The best way to describe it is, it feels like I stubbed my toe. The pain is not really bad. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s doable.”
Liquori had been told there was a chance he could return by season’s end and he proved to be a quick healer.
“Tom had told me to take it day-by-day, but when (Ryan) Ford got hurt, he said I needed to get back,” Liquori said.
Ford, also an outfielder, was placed on the 60-day injured list Friday and Liquori was activated. He is using this series to get his timing back before the playoffs.
It appeared to be back in the first inning when Liquori hit his 14th home run of the season, a 404-foot shot to right field off Schaumburg starter Ross Thompson (11-5) that gave Washington a 1-0 lead. Liquori added a double in the seventh inning.
Washington was held to six hits by four Schaumburg pitchers. The oddity was all six hits went for extra bases. Shortstop Kyle Edwards smacked an opposite-field solo homer in the second inning that tied the score at 2-2. Cole Turney had given Schaumburg a 2-1 lead in the top of the second with a two-run homer off Washington starter Ben Kowalski.
The game stayed tied until the seventh when Schaumburg scored four runs off the Washington bullpen. Mack Anglin (4-1), pitching for the second consecutive game, gave up a tiebreaking homer to the first batter he faced, Kellum Clark. After a walk and single, Jack Brodsky replaced Anglin and Kai Moody smacked a run-scoring single. Chase Dawson added a two-run single that made it 6-2.
Washington used a sacrifice fly by Miles Simington to score Isaias Quiroz and close to within 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh.
In the eighth, the fourth walk drawn by Andrew Czech, a double by Wagner Lagrange and two-run double by Antonio Monroy cut Schaumburg’s lead to 6-5. Monroy advanced to third base on a wild pitch but he was stranded there after two strikeouts that ended the inning.
Schaumburg’s Darrell Thompson pitched the ninth inning for his fourth save.
Playoff possibilities
Both Washington and Schaumburg have clinched playoff berths, but neither team knows who it will play Wednesday or where they will be playing. That’s because the West Division winner and second wild card have not been determined. Washington will play the second wild card.
Schaumburg leads Windy City by one game in the West but the ThunderBolts own the tiebreaker over the Boomers. A Schaumburg win over Washington in the regular-season finale Sunday, or a Florence win over Windy City, gives the Boomers the West title. A Florence win makes the Y’alls the second wild card. If Schaumburg and Windy City both win, then Windy City is the second wild card and will play Washington. If the Wild Things and Windy City win today, then Windy City wins the West title and Schaumburg is the second wild card.