Plenty of swings, plenty of misses for Lake Erie bats as Crushers lose 1-0 to Washington Wild Things

AVON — It was a windy day at Mercy Health Stadium, and the Crushers' bats added to the breeze during their 1-0 loss to Washington. Lake Erie (1-3) struck out 11 times, 10 off Wild Things starting pitcher Keven Pimentel, and mustered just one hit as Washington won its first game of the season against four losses. The game was scoreless heading into the fifth inning before the Wild Things broke through. Center fielder Derek Reddy reached on a one-out infield single and advanced to second on a wild pitch from Crushers starting pitcher Sean Johnson. Washington designated hitter Bralin Jackson hit a ground ball to the hole between shortstop and third, and when Crushers shortstop Trevor Achenback's throw sailed past first baseman Zach Gray, Reddy tried to score all the way from second base. Gray cut him down when he fired a throw to the plate. With two outs, left fielder Grant Heyman singled to right on a hit-and-run that moved Jackson to third. Jackson scored the game's only run when Johnson uncorked a wild pitch that went to the backstop. "We got beat by a wild pitch ... got beat by it," Lake Erie manager Kyle Kovach said. "We had another one that, fortunately, we got out of it. Neither team swung the bats extraordinarily well. They had four hits and we had one. We just have to do a more assertive job of swinging at the baseball." That one run was all Washington starter Keven Pimentel and three relievers needed. Pimentel dominated the Crushers' batters, using a fastball that sat in the 88-91 mph range to keep Lake Erie off balance. He struck out 10 in six innings and allowed just a one-out single to Shawon Dunston Jr. in the third inning. Dunston drove a ball to the gap in the bottom of the first that was run down by Wild Things right fielder Hector Roa. Second baseman General McArthur also hit a ball deep to the right-center gap that Roa was able to track down in the third inning. "We hit some balls good early, we just didn't get any results from it," Kovach said. "We were swinging and missing too much, with guys trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark when we had a 90-mile-an-hour gale blowing in. "You've got to be smart. Dunston hit a ball that's probably a gapper on a normal day, but it got held up. In the last inning Passatempo hit that ball on the screws, but you've got to hit line drives. We have to execute with runners in scoring position. "We moved them when we had to, but then we didn't put the ball in play. Too many strikeouts." Lake Erie (1-2) had two scoring chances, one in the bottom of the sixth and one in the bottom of the seventh. In the sixth, Achenbach walked with one out, stole second, then moved to third on a throwing error by Wild Things catcher Cody Erickson. Connor Oliver and Keith Ellison struck out to end the threat. In the seventh, reliever James Meeker walked Gray to open the bottom of the inning. Third baseman Steve Passatempo bunted him to second, but Brody Woford flew out to shallow right and McArthur grounded out to third to end the inning. McArthur struggled at the plate, but Kovach said his glove will earn him more playing time. In the top of the first, Reddy singled and was running on the pitch when Jackson singled through the right side of the infield. McArthur faked like he was going to catch a throw from the catcher at second base, causing Reddy to slide instead of moving to third on the hit-and-run. Grant Heyman followed with a high chopper that turned into a fielder's choice, a play that would have scored Reddy had he been at third. McArthur also stole a hit from Erickson with a diving snag of a line drive in the top of the third. "That was a big play early in the game," Kovach said of McArthur's keeping Reddy at second. "Those are the things that get overlooked, but they don't get overlooked. It earns him another shot to play tomorrow. He's a utility guy but he's got plenty of energy and swings the bat okay. He's a great athlete and you'd like to see him get a chance to move on. He's got a good chance to play again tomorrow." Ellison thought Johnson did a good job on the mound, despite getting tagged for his first loss of the season. "Sean did a great job battling," Ellison said. "He's got a great mix of pitches to attack hitters with and he really does a good job of keeping guys off-balance. He's very confident in his stuff and he knows how to attack hitters with the impressive stuff he has. I'm proud of the way he threw today and he should be as well. "We missed a timely hit here and there. They got us today. Thankfully we're just three games in. We'll stick with the plan and see where we end up a couple of months from now." The teams will play the final game of the series today. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Contact Mike Perry at 329-7135 or macsportstalk@gmail.com. Lake Erie 1, River City 0 Washington&emsp;&emsp;ab&emsp;&emsp;r&emsp;&emsp;h&emsp;&emsp;bi&emsp;&emsp;Lake Erie&emsp;&emsp;ab&emsp;&emsp;r&emsp;&emsp;h&emsp;&emsp;bi Andrew Penner&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Shawon Dunston Jr&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0 Derek Reddy 4 0 2 0 Dylan Jones 2 0 0 0 Bralin Jackson 4 1 1 0 Trevor Achenback 2 0 0 0 Grant Heyman 4 0 1 0 Connor Oliver 2 0 0 0 Hector Roa 4 0 0 0 Keith Ellison 3 0 0 0 Andrew Czech 3 0 0 0 Bryan De La Rosa 1 0 0 0 John Sansone 3 0 0 0 Zack Gray 3 0 0 0 Brian Sharp 2 0 0 0 Steve Passatempo 3 0 0 0 Cory Erickson 2 0 0 0 Brody Wofford 4 0 0 0 Trevor Casanova 0 0 0 0 General McArthur 3 0 0 0 Totals&emsp;&emsp;30&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;Totals&emsp;&emsp;27&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0 Washington&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;001&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;1Lake Erie&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1 LOB — Washington 5, Lake Erie 8. SB — Casanova, Dunston Jr., Jones, Achenbach. CS — Sharp. E — Erickson, Achenbach. &emsp;&emsp;IP&emsp;&emsp;H&emsp;&emsp;R&emsp;&emsp;ER&emsp;&emsp;BB&emsp;&emsp;SO Washington Keven Pimentel (W, 1-0)&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;0&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;10 BJ Sabol 1 0 0 0 1 0 Jesus Balaguer 1 0 0 0 1 1 Zach Strecker (S, 1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 Lake Erie Sean Johnson (L, 0-1) 6 4 1 0 1 6 Matt Mullenbach 2 0 0 0 2 3 Aaron Glickstein 1 0 0 0 0 0