Wingnuts working through early-season imbalance
Baseball statistics are thought to even out over longer periods. That’s good news for the Wingnuts, who have played an imbalanced 10 games that have produced some off-kilter numbers.
Wichita has a team ERA of 6.70. That was split between five pitchers at 4.32 or better and six with ERAs above 6.00, including three at 9.00 or worse.
Offensively, the Wingnuts (3-7) have six batters above a .312 average and six between .111 and .244. The wide variance in statistics have made for some lopsided outcomes and some close games – five decided by four runs or more and five at three or fewer runs.
“We’ve just got to go out and do our jobs. Just go out and be us and not be too much and not try to do too much,” Wingnuts manager Pete Rose Jr. said. “Usually teams do that when they’re not playing the way they want to play. I’ve been part of it. I’ve been the guy that’s tried to go out and drive in ten runs with one swing.
“It doesn’t work. You’ve just got to keep grinding. Keep putting up good at-bats, keep throwing strikes, keep making plays and good things will happen. I think that’s going to happen.”
The Wingnuts’ season has also been characterized by a failure to capitalize on potential turnaround moments. Their first win, on May 21, ended on Christian Stringer’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth, but Wichita lost its next three games.
On Thursday, a late go-ahead home run by T.J. Mittelstaedt carried the Wingnuts to an 8-5 lead. But they lost 13-3 the next night to Fargo-Moorhead and 7-3 on Saturday before rebounding for a 14-4 win in the series finale.
“Obviously you want momentum, but it’s a long season,” Rose said. “It’s not like a (short) basketball series. Each team is different, but if you have confidence going into a game – I don’t think our confidence is lacking – it’s just kind of how it falls. Each game is different just because it’s baseball.”
Wichita has allowed 76 runs in 10 games, though 41 have scored in three games, part of the early-season disparity. No. 1 starter Jon Link earned Sunday’s win after two poor starts, dropping his ERA to 7.97.
The rotation appears somewhat stable as Anthony Capra, Charlie Leesman and Tim Brown all have ERAs 4.20 or better, but Wichita’s bottom five pitchers have allowed 50 runs in 39 innings.
“It’s just a funk, man. You can’t really explain it,” Rose said. “I’ve been through these before. I’m glad it’s (happening) now as opposed to Aug. 20 or Aug. 30. Get it out of the way now. The pitchers are going to be fine, the offense is fine. That’s one thing about us, we’re not going to pack it in. We’re going to battle until the end.”
Wingnuts 14, Fargo-Moorhead 4 — Wichita used a pair of five-run innings for a rout of Fargo-Moorhead on Sunday. The win helped the Wingnuts avoid a sweep. It was a season-high for runs for Wichita.
Wichita returns home Monday to face Laredo and start a seven-game homestand.
Wichita | Fargo | ||||||||
ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
Stringer 2b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Mzngo cf, lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Cox 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Pineda 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Clevlen dh | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | DLaCrz dh | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Mttlstdt lf | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Wagner 3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Geiger 1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | Mazzola 3b, lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Prigatano rf | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Hmphries 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Kain cf | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Bailey c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Dean c | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Kang rf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Vargas ss | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | Carter cf, p | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Johns ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Totals | 40 | 14 | 16 | 14 | Totals | 33 | 4 | 7 | 4 |
Wichita | 000 | 501 | 053 | — | 14 6 1 |
Fargo | 000 | 300 | 001 | — | 4 7 0 |
2B—Clevlen, Dean, Vargas, De La Cruz. HR—Bailey, Kang. SB—Vargas 2. CS—Clevlen, De La Cruz. E—Stringer. LOB—Wichita 12, Fargo 4. DP—Wichita 1, Fargo 1.
Wichita | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Link W,1-2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
Harvey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Ruff | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Fargo | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Alexander L,1-1 | 5.1 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 6 |
Mason | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Dahl | 2.1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
Carter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
T — 3:09. A — 2,927.
Laredo at Wingnuts
▪ When: 7:05 p.m. Monday
▪ Where: Lawrence-Dumont Stadium
▪ Records: Laredo 5-4, Wingnuts 3-7
▪ Radio: KGSO, 1410-AM
This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Wingnuts working through early-season imbalance."