Solid start by Jon Link sends Wingnuts to win
Jon Link pitched six dominant innings and the Wingnuts broken open a tight game with a five-run eighth inning on the way to a 9-1 win over the AirHogs on Thursday night in Grand Prairie, Texas.
The teams traded first-innng homers. David Espinosa put Wichita ahead 1-0 with a one-out homer, and Brian Myrow tied it in the bottom of the first with a two-out shot.
John Nester’s second-inning homer put the Wingnuts ahead 2-1. Link allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the second, then retired the next 12 batters he faced. An error by second baseman Leo Vargas allowed the AirHogs’ leadoff batter to reach in the sixth, but Link set down the next three batters. He departed with nine strikeouts in six innings. He won his third straight start since rejoining the team in early July.
Espinosa led off the eighth with a walk and T.J. Mittelstaedt followed with a single. A walk to Matt Padgett loaded the bases with one out, then Nester walked to push across the first run of the inning. Harrison Kain’s single scored Mittelstaedt, and Luis Hernadez hit a three-run triple to make it 7-1.
Kain added a two-run double in the ninth to complete the scoring.
Wichita | G. Prairie | ||||||||
ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
Ray cf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | McGruder 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Espinosa rf | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Richardson rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Mittelstdt 3b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Myrow dh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Brodin dh | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Pair dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Padgett 1b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Cabrera lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Nester c | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Diaz 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Kain lf | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | Chavez c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hernandez ss | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | Hart cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Vargas 2b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Hop-Haslm 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Estrada ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Totals | 37 | 9 | 11 | 9 | Totals | 33 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
Wichita | 110 | 000 | 052 | — | 9 |
Grand Prairie | 100 | 000 | 000 | — | 1 |
E— Vargas, Richardson, Chavez. DP— Grand Prairie 2. LOB— Wichita 8, Grand Prairie 5. 2B— Kain, Hernandez. HR — Espinosa (2), Nester (3), Myrow (2). SB — McGruder.
Wichita | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Link W,3-0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
Bennett | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Boshers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Kuzminsky | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
G. Prairie | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Whitmore L,2-4 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Dando | 1/3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
Norris | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Allen | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
T— 2:42. A— 491.
This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Solid start by Jon Link sends Wingnuts to win."