Hillcats tie it in the ninth, lose it in the 13th

Six days after arguably the best start of Justin Wilson’s career, when he went seven innings and allowed no runs against 11 strikeouts, the 6-foot-2 right-hander threw another gem, this one a six-inning, five strikeout outing against Winston-Salem.

Wilson allowed just one run, but his counterpart was even better. The Dash’s Jacob Rasner cruised through eight innings during which just one Hillcat reached second base. Rasner looked poised for a 1-0 shutout victory before the Hillcats rallied in the ninth to tie the game at 1-1. Despite the comeback, the Hillcats offense continued to sputter in extra innings and the Dash plated a pair in the top of the 13th to pick up a 3-1 win.

Both pitchers cruised through the first three innings, facing just nine hitters apiece and combining for six strikeouts. Wilson was touched up for his only run in the fourth when the Dash produced three straight two-out singles capped off by first baseman Seth Loman’s RBI single up the middle. The Hillcats failed to produce any kind of response and did not see a runner reach second base until first baseman Matt Hague doubled in the eighth, just the third hit Rasner allowed in the game to go with his seven strikeouts.

Rasner did not return for the ninth and the Hillcats took advantage with a lead-off single by Jose De Los Santos, who moved to second on a balk. Two batters later, Jody Mercer slapped a grounder to third baseman Joe Persichina, who two-hopped a throw wide to first, allowing De Los Santos to score from second.

The score remained tied until the 13th when a routine grounder to the pitcher from lead-off hitter Greg Paiml was thrown wide of first, allowing Paiml to advance to second base. Tyler Kuhn walked and a batter later Loman singled to right, scoring Paiml. The Dash added an insurance run thanks to an RBI single off the bat of center fielder Kent Gerst.

Tyson Corley came on for the save situation in the home half of the 13th and immediately gave up a double to lead-off hitter Eric Fryer before settling down to get the next three batters to pick up his fourth save of the season.

No Hillcat player had more than two hits and the team as a whole struck out 14 times and left 18 men on base, numbers that indicate a team pushing too hard to make things happen.

“They start trying too hard, they all have a good approach and they’ve all done it throughout the year, delivered. I think they start trying too hard to be the guy, start gripping the bat a little tighter, and it makes things even more difficult,” Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes said.

“Just one of those nights I thought they pitched well against us, and we just have to have a short memory.”

Wilson, who was removed after the sixth because of a strict pitch-count, has strung together nine straight starts of two runs or less. During that stretch, he has struck out 40 batters including a career-high 11 strikeouts against Myrtle Beach.

“He’s working both sides of the plate and has command of the fastball, everything works off the fastball and when you can command both sides of the plate it makes your secondary stuff that much better and that’s what we’ve seen lately,” Forbes said.

Chris Cullen, who worked the final two innings, took the loss for the Hillcats, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits.