Wild Things Fall Behind Early, Drop Series Opener in Joliet
JOLIET, Il. (August 13) – The Wild Things dropped their first road game since July 21 as they opened a series in Joliet with an 8-3 defeat at the hands of the Slammers. The loss snapped a six-game road win streak and moved the Wild Things to 53-25 on the season, still good for first in the West by six games over Gateway and good for the league’s best record by a half game over East-leading Québec.
The playoff magic number of the Wild Things remains at four entering the middle game of the series tomorrow as a result of the loss and happenings around the league which saw Florence overtake Schaumburg for fourth place in the West. The division magic number is still 12 after Gateway’s blanking of Lake Erie.
Joliet scored the game’s first five runs and took a 5-0 lead to the sixth. Three came off starter Dariel Fregio, who had his string of seven straight quality starts come to an end as he lasted 4.1 innings and yielded four hits and the three runs with four walks and six strikeouts, his most walks in a game since May 17. The Slammers’ Matthew Warkentin hit his league-leading 19th homer of the season to open the scoring in the third, a two-run shot.
Up 2-0 entering the fifth, Joliet got a lead-off double from Antonio Valdez. Fregio fanned Warkentin but that was it for him. Marlon Perez came on and gave up a sac fly to Jonathan Sierra to make it 3-0 with the run going to Fregio’s line. A two-out walk led to back-to-back singles, the second which brought home Joliet’s fifth run after a balk brought in the fourth.
Washington got a run back in the sixth inning on a double play ball off the bat of Jalen Miller that plated Caleb McNeely. Joliet responded, however, with two more in the sixth against Perez on a two-run single by Sierra.
The Wild Things watched Baron Radcliff go deep to center in the seventh for a two-run homer, his first hit and homer as a Wild Thing after being added Sunday. That made it 7-3 but Joliet got its eighth run in the bottom half with an RBI single by Chris Davis.
A bright spot was Brendan Nail, who fanned the side in order in the eighth, his only inning of work.
Washington will send Malik Barrington to the hill tomorrow in the middle game against Joliet’s Brett Sanchez as the Wild Things aim to even the series. First pitch is slated for 7:35/6L35 p.m. CT at Slammers Stadium.
