Wingnuts win opening game of championship series
Two successful homecomings and a 10-run lead that was just enough.
Those were the storylines Wednesday as the Wingnuts won the opening game of the American Association Championship Series 11-7 at Lincoln, using eight soft singles and 10 walks in a game that went from rout to taut in one inning.
Wichita, in its third straight championship series, opened a 10-0 lead through seven innings, thanks in large part to David Espinosa’s five RBIs. Espinosa played the past two seasons with Lincoln.
“I enjoyed my time here. I’m not going to lie, I was surprised I was traded considering I pretty much was the best player on the team last year. I was the only guy to play 100 games,” Espinosa said. “It felt good to play well against them and this year every time I’ve played against them I’ve done pretty well.”
Any offense would have been more than enough for Wingnuts starting pitcher Tim Brown, a former Saltdog who allowed no runs, one walk and three hits in seven sterling innings. Brown, who has allowed six earned runs in his last 34 innings, kept the ball in park despite a flag-straightening breeze blowing out to right field.
“For a guy who relies on movement with his fastball, I mean, you never know what the wind might be doing with it,” Brown said.
Brown was removed after 81 pitches, and then things intensified.
With Brown, Espinosa and two other Wingnuts starters on the bench, the Saltdogs put their first eight hitters on base in the eighth inning. Chad Mozingo hit a grand slam off Matt Robertson, and Ian Gac added a two-run single off Daniel Bennett. Lincoln eventually had the tying run at the plate, but Tyler Smith grounded out to end a seven-run inning.
“I had faith in our guys, but yeah, a little too close for comfort,” Brown said.
Wichita built the lead in a variety of ways.
Ryan Khoury, coming off a 2-for-15 series against Laredo, opened the game with a pop-up that Lincoln second baseman Luis Nunez and center fielder Matt Forgatch backed away from, allowing the ball to drop. A stolen base, a fly out that moved Khoury to third and a sacrifice fly scored the game’s first run.
Wichita scored a run without a hit in the third inning, and in the fourth Chris McMurray blooped a single to right field scoring Carlo Testa.
The Wingnuts broke open the game with three straight run-scoring singles in the fifth. Wichita’s first loud crack of the bat was Espinosa’s three-run homer in the sixth.
Lincoln starter Marquis Fleming threw 133 pitches in 5 2/3 innings, walking seven.
“Fleming throws a lot of change-ups and he doesn’t throw a lot of strikes,” Espinosa said. “He has success when people chase that change-up in the dirt but if you take that away from him that makes him very susceptible to walking guys.”
Wichita set a league record with 73 wins this season and led the American Association in batting average, ERA and fielding percentage.
“The numbers say we’re the best team in the league but we’re out to prove we’re the best team in the league,” Espinosa said.
Anthony Capra will start for the Wingnuts on Thursday night.
Wichita | Lincoln | ||||||||
ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
Khoury ss | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Mozingo dh | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
McClendon 3b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Nunez 2b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Espinosa rf | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | Forgat cf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Amberson rf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Gac 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Clevlen cf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Joynt rf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
McDonald cf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Hamilton lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Nieves 2b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Pinckney 3b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Testa lf | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | Gilmartin ss | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Diaz 1b | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Smith c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
McMurray c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Dean ph-c | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Luce dh | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Totals | 39 | 11 | 15 | 11 | Totals | 37 | 7 | 10 | 7 |
Wichita | 101 | 133 | 101 | — | 11 15 1 |
Lincoln | 000 | 000 | 070 | — | 7 10 1 |
E – Diaz (1), Gilmaratin (1). DP – Wichita 1. LOB — Wichita 14, Laredo 5. 2B – McClendon (1), Nieves (2), Nunez (3). HR – Espinosa (1), Mozingo (1). SF – Espinosa (1). S – McClendon, Espinosa. SB – Khoury 2 (3), Testa (2), McMurray (1).
Wichita | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Brown W, 2-0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Robertson | 0 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
Bennett | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lincoln | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Fleming L, 1-1 | 5 2/3 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 4 |
Meiers | 2 1/3 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
King | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
WP – Robertson (1). Umpires — Home, Art Thigpen; 1B, Brian Child; 2B, Shawn Hicks; 3B, Joe Stegner.
T – 3:12. A – 1,216.
Wingnuts at Lincoln
When: 6:35 p.m. Thursday
What: Game 2, American Association championship series
Where: Haymarket Park, Lincoln, Neb.
Radio: KWME, 92.7-FM
This story was originally published September 10, 2014 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Wingnuts win opening game of championship series."