Saturday’s action picked up with the resumption of play from a suspended game back on June 20 at Washington, Where the Wild Things had a 1-0 lead with runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second inning.
The Otters turned to Anthony Arias to take over in a long relief appearance for Austin Nicely, who started the game on June 20.
Thrown into a jam, Arias was able to strikeout J.R. Davis and forced Brett Marr to fly out to centerfield to end the threat.
John Havird, the original starter on June 20, pitched for Washington as Saturday was his normal scheduled start day in the rotation.
It would be a pitcher’s duel between Arias and Havird, as both pitchers would go back and forth throwing strikeouts.
The Otters would tie the game at one in the top of the sixth inning on a two-out RBI single from Elijah MacNamee to score J.J. Gould.
Havird would pitch into the eighth but fell into trouble when Gould led off the top of the inning with a solo home run over the left-field fence, giving the Otters their first lead of the game.
David Cronin would follow with a triple, and Ryan Long’s walk put runners on the corners with no outs, forcing Washington to pull Havird.
MacNamee hit into a fielder’s choice, allowing Cronin to score from third, and giving the Otters a 3-1 advantage.
Arias would pitch a clean seventh inning, tossing 5.2 innings of one-hit baseball with seven strikeouts in the winning effort, improving his record to 2-1.
Havird would throw seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits while tossing six strikeouts. He was handed the loss, dropping his record to 5-6.
Otters left-handed reliever Cam Opp threw a scoreless eighth, and closer Taylor Wright earned his 12th save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
Game two featured a balanced attack by the Otters.
The Otters’ offense got going in the top of the second inning.
With the bases loaded, Tanner Wetrich roped a two-RBI single off Washington starter Josh Lapiana to give the Otters a 2-0 lead through two.
In the Otters’ half of the third, Evansville doubled their lead.
Ryan Long unloaded on a two-run homer, scoring Keith Grieshaber, for his 13th home run of the season, recording his league-leading 61st and 62nd RBIs, and giving the Otters a 4-0 cushion.
Lapiana would finish three innings of work, allowing four runs on six hits. He would be handed the loss, dropping his record to 0-2.
With a 4-0 advantage, Otters starter Brandyn Sittinger continued to be in control and go to work on the mound.
After being flawless through four innings, Washington tested Sittinger in the fifth.
A pair of walks and a single in the inning loaded the bases with two outs, but Sittinger was not fazed, striking out Jose Medina to strand the bases loaded.
The Otters would add two more runs in the top of the sixth, featuring a solo home run from Gould, his second of the day, and a run on a defensive miscue by the Wild Things.
With a 6-0 lead, Sittinger struck out the side in order in the bottom of the sixth, and reliever Drew Beyer pitched a scoreless seventh inning to seal the win for Evansville.
Sittinger earned his first win as an Otter, pitching six shutout innings while striking out 11 batters. Sittinger struck out every batter in the Wild Things lineup at least once.
With the win in game two, each Otter’s batter in the lineup was able to reach base at least once. Cronin, Long, MacNamee, and Dakota Phillips had multi-hit games, as eight of the nine batters in the Otters’ lineup had at least one hit.
A win on Sunday will give the Otters another series win against the Wild Things and a 6-3 record against Washington this season.
First pitch for Sunday’s series finale is at 4:35 p.m. CT.
Broadcast coverage can be found on the radio at 91.5 WUEV-FM or WUEV.org with Dave Nguyen (play-by-play) on the call.
The Otters are celebrating their 25th anniversary season in 2019.
Evansville will return home for a six-game homestand next week Aug. 13-18 against the River City Rascals and the Gateway Grizzlies.
Next week’s promotions include $2 Tuesday, Bud Light Thirsty Thursday, St. Vincent Night, Breast Cancer Awareness Night and postgame fireworks by Marathon, and Mascot Day.
To purchase a season ticket or group outing package, call (812) 435-8686 or visit the Bosse Field front office at 23 Don Mattingly Way, Evansville, Ind. The front office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Evansville Otters are the 2006 and 2016 Frontier League champions.
The Otters play all home games at historic Bosse Field, located at 23 Don Mattingly Way in Evansville, Ind. Stay up-to-date with the Evansville Otters by visiting evansvilleotters.com, or follow the Otters on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
