Wingnuts inch closer to playoff berth with 12-2 win over Amarillo
No matter what happened when Wingnuts catcher John Nester batted in the first inning on Thursday, Amarillo starter Tyler Pearson was in it for the long haul.
He could escape the jam and go on to pitch several productive innings or, as it turned out, be left in for the barrage of a lifetime.
The Wingnuts made Pearson suffer through his 145 pitches, tagging him for 12 hits over six innings in a 12-2 win at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Nester broke it open with a three-run double with one out in the first.
After losing five of their previous six games, the Wingnuts have scored 22 combined runs in a pair of wins over Amarillo and are one win from their fifth consecutive postseason bid. Wichita won the American Association championship in 2014.
“We’re really focusing on having good at-bats right now and trying to carry it over into a playoff atmosphere,” said Nester, who also had an RBI double in the sixth inning. “We’ve obviously made some moves and have some different guys in the lineup than we had at the beginning of the year.
“Everybody’s just focusing on having good at-bats and putting the barrel on the ball.”
One of the Wingnuts’ recent additions, center fielder Nick Van Stratten, led off the bottom of the first with his second home run in three games. Even though Jayce Ray followed with a fly out to left field, Pearson was miles from settling in.
The next seven batters reached safely and the eighth, Van Stratten again, hit a sacrifice fly before Ray joined the action with an RBI double. In between, the Wingnuts walked twice, Leo Vargas brought in a run on a hit by pitch, and Nester cleared the bases with a hit down the left-field line.
“Pearson’s got a knack for walking guys and we knew that going in,” Wingnuts manager Kevin Hooper said. “We’ve got to know that when we face guys like that. We made him throw some pitches – he threw a lot of pitches tonight. That’s the ultimate goal with a guy like that, make him throw a lot of pitches and get to the bullpen.”
The Wingnuts learned that on Wednesday, when they rallied for a 10-9 win. Wichita seemed to have the asterisk against that theory by handing such a lead to Scott Richmond, the likely Game 1 postseason starter.
Richmond matched his counterpart’s six innings but got through them in 49 fewer pitches, allowing one run – a solo home run by Jordan Guida – on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
Richmond’s ERA dropped to 1.79, giving the Wingnuts, along with Jon Link, two former major-league pitchers with 12 combined wins and a 1.96 ERA over 101 total innings.
“He’s going to go out there and he’s going to pound the (strike) zone,” Nester said of Richmond. “He’s going to work well with me behind the plate, or with (Brent) Dean or whoever is back there, and do his best to give us six or seven strong innings.”
A win with the undefeated Link on the mound on Friday sends the Wingnuts to the playoffs again, practically an annual tradition. Wichita could have clinched a spot if Laredo had lost on Thursday – now the Wingnuts don’t need to scoreboard watch anymore.
“I’ve been paying attention to what’s going on,” Hooper said. “But like I always say, I just want us to win and take care of it by ourselves, not rely on somebody else. That’s what it’s about, winning and getting to the postseason. Everybody talks about winning championships. I just want to get there, because you can’t win one sitting at home on the couch.”
Amarillo | Wichita | ||||||||
ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
Martinez lf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | VStratten cf | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Leveret 1b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Ray lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Kjerstad cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Smart 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Gartrell dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Clevlen dh | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Valentin 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | LaRoche 1b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Melo ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dean c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rodriguez rf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Mttlstdt 3b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Ibarra 3b-ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Nester c | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Urps 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Kain lf-rf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Guida c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Oldham 2b-rf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Vargas ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Totals | 36 | 2 | 9 | 2 | Totals | 40 | 12 | 16 | 12 |
Amarillo | 000 | 010 | 100 | — | 2 |
Wichita | 701 | 003 | 01x | — | 12 |
E — Leveret (12). LOB — Amarillo 9, Wichita 12. 2B — Gartrell (24, Valentin (23), Rodriguez (5), Guida (9), Ray (15), Clevlen 2 (4), Nester 2 (19). HR — Ibarra (8), Guida (2), Van Stratten (2). SF — Van Stratten (1). SB — Kain (20).
Amarillo | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Pearson L,5-6 | 6 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
Gleeses | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Haynes | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Wichita | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Richmond W,6-1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Mosebach | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Orosey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Boshers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
WP — Richmond (5), Orosey (1). HBP — Smart, Vargas (by Pearson). Umpires — home, Matt Herrera; first, Mike Campbell; third, Mike Jarboe.
T — 2:48. A — 2,491.
Amarillo at Wingnuts
When: 7:05 p.m. Friday
Where: Lawrence-Dumont Stadium
Records: Amarillo 43-53, Wingnuts 57-39
Pitchers: Amarillo, RH Alex Kornois (2-4, 4.50 ERA); Wingnuts, RH Jon Link (6-0, 2.16)
Radio: KWME, 92.7-FM
This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Wingnuts inch closer to playoff berth with 12-2 win over Amarillo."