Defensive woes sink Wingnuts

The Wingnuts committed seven errors in a doubleheader on Thursday, which at least prevented any one of them from being singled out.

All but one of the runs scored by Joplin in its 4-2 and 6-4 seven-inning wins at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium were unearned. The Wingnuts never played with the lead, but they might have if not for multiple errors that brought in runs.

Slick-fielding Wingnuts shortstop Alberto Gonzalez, who hadn’t made an error this season, was sold on Tuesday to the Detroit Tigers organization. His absence seemed to have a trickle-down effect, as five Wingnuts committed errors.

Two were by Luis Hernandez, Gonzalez’s former double-play partner who also hadn’t made an error this year.

“We take a lot of pride in our defense and we’re throwing the ball all over the place both games,” Wingnuts manager Kevin Hooper said. “Unacceptable. It cost us.”

Joplin led 1-0 in the fifth inning of Game 1 before Jake Taylor led off with a single and Hernandez missed a throw from pitcher Scott Richmond that could have turned into a double play.

Instead, the ball rolled to center fielder Jayce Ray, who made a misguided throw to no one in particular, and watch as the ball skipped near the Wingnuts’ dugout, scoring Taylor and moving Jesus Solorzano to third base. He scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly.

Those plays extended the inning and helped Joplin score another run after a single by Mitch Glasser and Oscar Mesa’s triple. The Blasters led 4-0 after five, and all three runs in the inning were unearned.

“Today, we just played horrific defense,” Wichita outfielder David Espinosa said. “We just can’t put it together, quite frankly.”

The Wingnuts (18-14) have lost six of their last eight games and are in second place this late into a season for the first time in three years. They bemoan a lack of clutch hitting and the occasional disappearance of effective relief pitching, but theirs is a wide-ranging inconsistency.

After scoring 20 runs in their previous two games, the Wingnuts scored four of Thursday’s six runs in the two seventh innings.

“A lot of little things,” Espinosa said. “Lately, we score a run and then we go out and give up a run. Today, most of ( Joplin’s) runs were unearned. You’ve got to defense and you’ve got to pitch. Then you’ve got to hit. Hitting is the hardest thing to do. The most consistent thing you can do is play defense.”

Wichita fell apart again in Game 2 with five errors.

With Joplin holding onto another 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, the Wingnuts were seemingly on their way to escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam on a groundball to pitcher Daniel Bennett. He threw home for a force out, but catcher Brent Dean’s throw sailed into right field.

By the time Espinosa could retrieve it, Steve Tinoco was headed home with Joplin’s third run on the play.

“Got all the time to make a throw down here, and we throw it in to right field and it costs us three right there on that one play,” Hooper said. “But that’s not the only one. All of (the errors) cost us, combined. It’s pretty frustrating, especially the way we typically are defensively.”

Joplin added a pair of runs in the sixth on Solorzano’s two-out double after Carlos Ramirez reached on a Hernandez error to start the inning. Joplin’s first run was aided by two first-inning errors.

Hernandez said poor defense created a changed approach at the plate. Since defensive innings lasted longer because of the errors, hitters were often unable to be aggressive, hoping to give overworked pitchers and defensive players some rest.

Hooper dismissed the notion of errors getting in players’ heads, putting more pressure on them to make the next play.

“I guess if you’re mentally weak, yeah. With our teams, it shouldn’t be,” Hooper said. “Somebody’s got to make the play. When you’re struggling, that’s what good players do – it doesn’t become a snowball effect. Somebody finds a way to make a play or gets you out of a jam to get you in here to hit.”

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Defensive woes sink Wingnuts."