Wild Things Club Three Longballs, Even Series With Win Wednesday in Joliet
JOLIET, Il. (August 14) – Washington used three solo homers, hitting three home runs in a game for the ninth time this season, and late offense to pad the lead in a 6-3 victory in the middle game at Joliet Wednesday night to even the series.
Washington’s division magic number came down two tonight to 10 as Gateway, the second-place club, lost to Lake Erie 2-1 and Washington won. The win coupled with a Windy City victory over Florence has dropped Washington’s playoff magic number to two. That means the club can get in tomorrow with a win AND a loss by Schaumburg to Evansville. Washington holds a tiebreaker over Florence head-to-head, meaning Florence’s 55 wins in 95 games wouldn’t be as good as Washington’s 55 in 95, if it came to that.
Tommy Caufield (11) and Wagner Lagrange (8) homered in the first inning of the contest before Caleb McNeely hit his 17th of the season and first since July 24 in the third. Later in the third Jalen Miller singled home a fourth Washington run in the game, making it 4-0.
Joliet got the next three, all coming in the bottom of the fifth inning. Andrew Fernandez hit a two-run shot off Malik Barrington and later in the frame Matthew Warkentin hit an infield RBI single that closed the Washington lead to 4-3. Joliet did not get anything else the rest of the night.
Barrington finished an out shy of a victory, logging 4.2 innings of six-hit, three-run ball. He struck out four. Ryan Munoz, who came on to get the Things out of the fifth, ended up with his fourth win as he worked 1.1 scoreless. Christian James spun a scoreless seventh with three strikeouts, Alex Carrillo worked a scoreless eighth and Gyeongju Kim earned his league-leading 20th save in the ninth.
Washington added a seventh-inning tally on a Miller RBI single and a tally in the ninth on a base hit through the middle by Brandon McIlwain.
In total, Washington totaled 13 hits with multi-hit nights from McNeely, Caufield, Miller and Lagrange (3). The win is Washington’s 54th of the season.
The Wild Things and Slammers meet in a rubber game Thursday with Jordan DiValerio scheduled to take the mound for the Wild Things against Jake Armstrong for Joliet. Again, a win by Washington AND a Schaumburg loss clinches a playoff spot for the Things tomorrow night. Any other scenario and Washington will return home with a chance to clinch at home over the weekend against Lake Erie. First pitch Thursday is slated for 7:35/6:35 p.m. CT.
