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Chase Wright allows just four hits in seven innings of work for another shutout victory.
OTTAWA — The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and the Ottawa Lynx apparently caught a case of soccer fever during Saturday night’s opener of a four-game series.
With the Canadian capital hosting opening day matches for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup championships, the Yankees and Lynx got into the soccer spirit a few miles away at Ottawa’s baseball stadium with a low-scoring affair of their own.
In the end, it was the Yankees that made the most of their rare opportunities to take a 2-0 decision which ended a two-game slide.
It was a banner day for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Chase Wright, who held the Lynx to just four hits through seven innings to earn his second straight victory and improve to 5-3.
He accomplished this despite a delay caused by rain when the Lynx were batting in the second inning.
The sudden downpour caused a 30-minute stoppage before Wright returned to the mound, but it didn’t affect the 23-year-old lefty and Triple-A rookie.
During the delay, Wright returned to the clubhouse with the rest of his teammates and relaxed by listening to music at his stall.
“Chase is mentally a very strong kid, and the delay didn’t affect him one bit and it didn’t bother him in the least,” said Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland. “He went and threw seven or eight pitches in the bullpen, went out on the mound, took his eight warm-up pitches and was ready to go. He didn’t miss a beat.”
Wright had three strikeouts and walked two Lynx batters in the seven innings.
“Lucky enough, the delay wasn’t too long where I couldn’t go back out there,” he said.
Coupled with his last start last Sunday at PNC Field against Syracuse, he has blanked the opposition in 14 innings and has allowed only seven hits.
“I just feel like I have better command of my pitches. I don’t have overpowering stuff. I’m not striking everybody out. I try to make the defense make plays behind me, and they came up with great plays.”
Eiland said he likes what he’s seeing.
“He’s commanding the baseball real well. He’s pitching,” Eiland said. “He’s not just out there throwing and being open. He’s got a game plan and he’s able to go out there and execute.”
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre defense helped Wright along, with first baseman Shelley Duncan and right fielder Bronson Sardinha contributing with good plays to get outs.
Wright himself got in on the defensive act, stabbing a liner from Jim Rushford after the teams returned to the field in the second following the rain to start a double play with a pair of runners on base.
“That’s huge right there in that situation. I don’t want to be out there throwing more than 10 or 15 pitches out there,” he said.
The Yankees scored against Lynx starter Bubba Nelson (2-4) in the first. Leadoff man Justin Christian singled, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on another groundout by Kevin Reese.
In the fifth, Omir Santos trotted home from third on a two-out infield single by Juan Francia.
Reliever Chris Britton got through the Lynx in the final two innings, striking out two to get his eighth save.
The series continues this afternoon at 1:05 p.m. with righty Matt DeSalvo starting for the Yankees against Ottawa’s Eude Brito.