Late Grand Slam Sinks Washington as Division Lead Shrinks
JOLIET, Il. (Aug. 22) – The Washington Wild Things suffered defeat at the hands of the Joliet Slammers, who evened the weekend series with Washington with an 8-5 victory. It was a Patrick Ward grand slam in the seventh that did the job for Joliet in the win.
The Wild Things yielded a first inning run to Joliet with the help of a failed pickoff throw getting away at first which allowed Ian Battipaglia to move to second after an infield hit. He’d score on a Blake Berry groundout for the second out of the frame.
Washington wasted little time in answering the tally, as Cole Fowler drove in the first two Washington runs with a second-inning homer, his 12th of the season, giving the Wild Things a 2-1 lead. Joliet’s Battipaglia tied things back up at 2-2 in the third with a solo shot before Fowler answered the call again with an RBI double scoring Andrew Czech, who had singled to start the fourth. The Wild Things added a fourth run in the fifth inning on Kyle Edwards’s fifth homer of the season.
Joliet tied the game with two in the sixth and could’ve gotten more if not for Michael Foltz Jr. coming on and inducing a double play to end the inning, leaving things tied at 4-4. Caleb Ketchup homered for the 13th time this season in the seventh, putting Washington ahead 5-4.
Patrick Ward came in with the bases full against Eldridge Armstrong III and took an 0-1 pitch out to right for the game-winning slam, which put Joliet up by the final of 8-5.
The series concludes tomorrow at 2:05/1:05 p.m. CDT with the rubber match.
Windy City’s loss at home against Gateway dropped Washington’s playoff magic number to three but the club’s division lead has shrunk to three games as Evansville came back to beat Florence with a big eighth inning.
The team’s $50 pack of six undated regular season ticket vouchers and card for one ticket to every home playoff game is available still for purchase here.
The 24th season of Wild Things baseball in the MLB-partnered Frontier League is underway with more great baseball and entertainment to come. For updates, other information and more, visit washingtonwildthings.com or follow the team on social media at facebook.com/WashingtonWildThings or @WashWildThings on other platforms.
Go Wild at washingtonwildthings.com.
