Coming off a 12-3 season in 2016, the skies seemed the limit for Alex Boshers, However, he has admittedly not pitched to his potential despite entering Saturday’s game against the Sioux Falls Canaries at 7-2. He has not pitched to his standards, but on this night, the Wichita Wingnuts starter was on the top of his game, throwing just 89-pitches in a brilliant 7-inning performance that dominated the Canaries, 9-4.

After a scoreless top half of the first, the Wichita Wingnuts staked their starter to a four-run lead in the bottom half of the inning. Harrison Kain led off the frame with a walk and moved to third when Christian Stringer grounded a single into right field. Brent Clevlen followed with a sharp single into left-center that scored Kain to make it 1-0 Wichita. T.J. Mittelstaedt singled into left, scoring Stringer, and an error allowed both runners to move into scoring position. American Association RBI leader Matt Chavez grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Clevlen, and Mittelstaedt came home on a sacrifice fly by Martin Medina.

With the early lead, Boshers breezed through the first three frames of the game. He gave up a leadoff double to start the contest, then retired the next nine batters. He was in true form, getting six ground outs, a line out, and two strikeouts.

In the fourth, the Canaries would finally get on the board. Jabari Henry brought Boshers streak of nine straight retired to an end by leading off the inning with a single. A fielder’s choice put Ty Morrison at first and he moved to second on a ground out. With two down, Burt Reynolds took the Wichita starter deep for his seventh homer of the year. That made it 4-2.

It would stay that way until the sixth, when Wichita extended their lead to three. Richard Prigatano walked with one down, then stole second. With two down, Leo Vargas hit a sharp single into left field to score Prigatano.

In the seventh, Wichita made this a four-run lead once again. With one down, Clevlen hammered a shot over the left-center field wall for his sixth home run of the season. That made it 6-2.

Following the two runs in the fourth, Alex Boshers (8-2) rolled over his final three-innings of work, allowing just one hit in that span. The right-hander came out after 7-innings, allowing 5-hits and 2-runs in one of his most dominating performances of the seasons. He struck out 2.

Chad Nading came on in the eighth and Sioux Falls would plate two runs against the right-hander. Back-to-back walks to Dan Motl and Brett Marr started the frame. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, and the pair came home on a double by Morrison to pull the Canaries to back within two.

This was suddenly a close ballgame, but it would not be that way for long. In the bottom half of the inning, Wichita scored three runs to retake command of this game. Zac Fisher led off with a single and scored when Prigatano roped a double to the wall to make it 7-4. Brennen Salgado followed with a single up the middle that scored Prigatano to extend the lead back to four. Salgado moved to third on a double by Vargas and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Kain to make it 9-4. That would be the final.

Brent Clevlen finished 2-5 with 2-runs and 2-RBI. Richard Prigatano also had a big game, going 2-3 with 2-runs and an RBI. The Canaries were led by Ty Morrison and Burt Reynolds, who both drove in 2-runs.

Tomorrow the Wichita Wingnuts will look for the sweep. They send Eddie Medina (6-2, 3.26) to the hill to face Miles Nordgren (2-3, 5.75). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05.

Boxscore

Featured Image by Ed Bailey

By Robert Pannier