WASHINGTON, PA – The Evansville Otters fell in the middle game of the series Wednesday to the Washington Wild Things 2-1 at Wild Things Park.
Scoring was hard to come by. The Otters (4-8) scored first for the second time in the series, but gave up the lead to the Wild Things (7-3) and could not recover.
In the top of the third inning, Patrick Lee launched his third home run of the year over the left-center wall, the deepest part of the yard. The no-doubt home run gave the Otters a 1-0 lead.
Washington answered in the bottom of the inning. On a one-out walk, a wild pitch sent the runner from first to third as Justin Felix could not locate the baseball. Later in the inning, a second wild pitch plated a run to even the score.
The Wild Things took the lead in the fourth on an RBI single and their pitching guided them through the rest of the game.
In the sixth, eighth and ninth innings, Evansville had two runners on base in each frame but could not capitalize, accounting for six of the seven men left on base. The final runner was Anothony Calarko who led off the second inning with a double, but the next three batters struck out to end the inning.
Lee and Calarco led the bats with two hits. The Otters outhit the Wild Things 9-4.
Zach Smith (0-2) was terrific on the mound. He took the hard-luck loss after throwing in 6.2 innings allowing both runs on just four hits with seven strikeouts and five walks. Despite the free passes, he rolled two double plays to help himself out.
Jon Beymer did not allow a baserunner in the 1.1 innings he saw out of the bullpen.
Evansville will finalize their three-game series against Washington tomorrow with a 6:05 PM CT first pitch.
