Down to their final out, the Evansville Otters scored four times to shock the Wild Things 5-3 to complete a three-game sweep on Thursday night at Consol Energy Park.
The comeback erased a solid start by Australian Luke Wilkins, who threw five innings of one-run ball while allowing five hits and walking two. He experienced trouble in the first and second innings allowing four hits, but he settled down both times to allow only the one run.
“Wilkins did a great job,” said Wild Things manager, Bob Bozzuto. “He was trying to make to fine of a pitch at the beginning. That’s when he started to get behind in the count and his pitch count went up, but after he talked to Ben [Moore] (Wild Things pitching coach), I think he settled down.”
The Wild Things (1-5) gave Wilkins a 3-1 lead thanks to a C.J Beatty sacrifice fly in the first and a David Popkins two-run home run in the third inning — his second homer of the series — but it proved to not be enough as the bullpen blew another opportunity to get into the win column.
Matt Purnell threw two scoreless innings before handing the ball to Steve Messner in the eighth. Messner eased through the eighth inning and got the first out of the ninth before control issues hit him. He walked two batters and recorded a strikeout before Bozzuto went to Pat Butler (L, 0-3) to get the final out.
“We had a couple guys down tonight that we weren’t going to use and we trusted [Messner] to finish the job,” said Bozzuto. “He got the first guy out in the ninth then allowed a walk. He then got a strikeout for the second out then allowed another walk and then how our luck has been going, a base hit down the line against Butler.”
Butler immediately allowed a Ronnie Richardson bloop two-run triple down the right field line to tie the game at five. Butler then gave up a two-run home run to John Schultz — his second in as many days — to give the Otters (4-2) their first lead of the game.
Edgar Lopez (Save #3) then shut down the Wild Things in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
“We’ve put ourselves in this hole and together we’re going to have to get ourselves out of it,” said Bozzuto. “I trust these guys and I expect them to be on the right side, as in victory.”
Starters Lines
(WAS) Wilkins (ND): 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K’s, 1 WP, 1 HBP. 79 Pitches (48 Strikes).
(EV) Oliver (ND): 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 11 K’s, 1 HR. 96 Pitches (59 Strikes).
(Photo Credit: Washington Wild Things)
