The Wild Things starter Shawn Sanford has been great all season. Today brought some unfortunate turn of events as Sanford saw his ERA double on the mound and was tagged with his first loss of the season. The eventual outcome of the game was the Evansville Otters extending their first place lead and the Wild Things dropping their second straight, 7-5.
Wild Things designated hitter Mark Samuelson put his team on top in the bottom of the first with an RBI double. They would never lead again.
Sanford, who had a 1.03 ERA coming into the game and had never allowed more than one earned run in a single game all season, had only allowed two base runners and no hits until the top of the fourth inning. The inning would prove to be a complete 180 degree turn for Sanford and the Wild Things.
After two walks to start the inning, Stephen Marino singled on an apparent sacrifice play that wound up being an error. The very next pitch, Frank Martinez singled to drive in the second run of the inning. After another walk, Sanford was able to strike out John Lester for the first out of the inning. The excitement of the strikeout didn’t last long as Ryan Kresky singled in two more runs, tallying four runs in the inning before a double play ended the inning.
The next inning, Sanford’s last, would bring one more run on an Andrew Clark home run. Sanford would finish the inning but would only last two batters into the sixth inning before being pulled after a leadoff single and walk in favor of Alfonso Yevoli.
Yevoli would go on to give up a two-run triple before getting out of the inning with the Wild Things trailing 7-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, Samuelson again would provide some offense, hitting a solo shot to bring the Things within five runs.
Much like last game, Washington put up a valiant effort in the bottom of the ninth.
The Wild Things started the inning with two singles and a walk before Stewart Ijames drove in a run off of a fielder’s choice play. AJ Nunziato was then able to drive in two more runs off of a single before the Otters reliever was pulled.
Unfortunately the pitching change killed any momentum the Things had going, and they fell by a score of 7-5.
Sanford allowed seven earned on five hits and had five strikeouts in his 5.0 innings of work. Samuelson and Nunziato each had two RBIs for the Wild Things. Samuelson also finished with three hits in the contest.
The Wild Things are back in action on Tuesday when they welcome the Traverse City Beach Bums to Console Energy Park. First pitch is set for 7:05 pm ET.
Photo Credit: WheresRooster.com
