Last season, the Wichita Wingnuts did not carry a single left-hander on their pitching staff, but oh how times have changed. The team sent Casey Harman to the hill on Saturday and he was dominating, blanking the Kansas City T-Bones through six innings as the Wingnuts downed Kansas City, 5-2. Lefty Felix Carvallo also threw two scoreless innings and Abel Nieves had 2-hits.

It was a scoreless tie through the first two frames but, in the third, the Wichita Wingnuts would rally to take a commanding lead. With one down, Leo Vargas singled into right field and he would move to second when Logan Watkins followed with a base hit of his own. Ryne Willard was the next batter, and he blooped a ball just over the second baseman’s head and in for a single scoring Vargas to make it 1-0. Abel Nieves singled to center to load the bases, and Tony Thomas followed by grounding to second. The throw came home to get Watkins, but the bases were still loaded, but now with two down. Kansas City starter Hunter Adkins then hit Zach Nehrir and John Nester, forcing home two runs to extend the lead to three. That brought Logan Trowbridge to the plate, who lined a single into left field bringing home both Thomas and Nehrir to make it 5-0.

That was plenty enough support for Casey Harman (1-0) on this night. He retired the first seven batters of the game before finally yielding his first hit. The lefty gave up two hits in the third, but got out of it unscathed. The left-hander would allow just one more hit before his night was over. Harman walked none and struck out 3 through six innings of work.

Felix Carvallo, another left-handed pitcher, took over for Harman in the seventh and he continued to dominate. The lefty threw 2-innings, allowing 2-hits while striking out 3.

In the ninth, James Campbell came on for the Wingnuts and the T-Bones would greet him with three straight hits. Adam Walker and Nick Torres led off with back-to-back singles. Cal Towey followed with a double into the gap in center that scored Walker. A ground out brought home Torres, but Campbell retired the final two batters to end the contest, as the Wichita Wingnuts won 5-2.

Abel Nieves continued his hot start, going 2-3 with a run scored. He is 5-7 through the first two games. Leo Vargas and Ryne Willard were also 2-3. Adrian Nieto was 2-4 with an RBI for Kansas City.

These two teams will close out their three game series tomorrow. Jordan Cooper gets the start for Wichita, against lefty Cody Dickson. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05.

Boxscore

Featured Image by Ed Bailey

By Robert Pannier