Taylor Black Eight Balls Wingnuts Hitters; RailCats Win 4-1
The Gary Southshore RailCats welcomed the Wichita Wingntus to town Friday night and proved to be quite inhospitable hosts. The RailCats got six outstanding innings out of Taylor Black to lead the team to a 4-1 victory. The win moved Gary a game above .500 and leaves them just 2.5 out of first place in the Central Division of the American Association.
Both Wichita starter Eddie Medina and Black looked good through the first two frames. Black didn’t allow a runner to reach base and Medina allowed one lone single. In the third, the Wingnuts threatened against the Gary starter, putting runners at first and second with two down, but Black coolly struck out Zack Cox to end the threat and keep it a scoreless tie.
The RailCats responded to their pitcher’s performance right away in the bottom half of the inning. John Holland led off with a single and moved to third on two wild pitches. Chase Harris brought him home with a single, and he was replaced on the base paths on a fielder’s choice by Colin Willis. That made it two down with a runner on first, but Medina could not end the threat. He walked Anthony Cheky, and Frank Martinez followed with a triple down the right field line, scoring both runners to make it 3-0.
The Wingnuts got one of those runs back in the top of the fourth. With one down, T.J. Mittelstaedt hit a ball deep to right-center that hit off the wall and he legged it out into a triple. Two batters later, the newly signed Nick Van Stratten roped a double down the left field line to score Mittelstaedt to make it 3-1.
That was all the offense that Black (6-6) would give up on the evening. The right-hander kept the Wingnuts off balanced, allowing two-hits in the third, fourth, and sixth, but not permitting anything other than the fourth inning run to score. He did not walk a batter and struck out 5. It was an impressive start that drew the praise of Manager Greg Tagert.
“We have been looking for a guy who could step up into our rotation and we have wanted to give Taylor a chance. He has had some tough starts, but he looked really good tonight. He looks a lot more comfortable out there now, and that showed in the way he pitched tonight. That’s a really good lineup out there and he pitched really well against them.”
The Gary Southshore RailCats got two outstanding relief appearances out of Lars Liguori and Santiago Rodriguez. Each allowed a hit in their one inning of work, but no runs would score.
Meanwhile, Medina settled down following the third inning. He allowed just one base runner to reach base over the next three innings to keep it a two-run game.
In the seventh, the RailCats would finally get to the Wingnuts starter, adding one more run. Medina struck out the first batter of the inning, but then hit Holland. Next up was Andy DeJesus, who doubled to center to score Holland and make the score 4-1.
In the ninth Jorge DeLeon came on to close it out. He retired the side in order for his seventh save of the season.
Holland finished 1-3 with 2-runs scored for the RailCats. Harris was 2-4 with an RBI. Stringer and Mittelstaedt were both 2-4 for Wichita.
Tomorrow night Tim Brown (8-2, 4.51) heads to the mound for the Wichita Wingnuts. He will be opposed by Charlie Rosario (8-3, 3.31) for the Gary Southshore RailCats. Game time is 6:10.
By Robert Pannier
