Manager Mike Lint has had a pretty simple formula for success this season; if you put Derek Wilson on the mound and Mike Washburn swinging the bat you give yourself a very good chance to win.
That’s exactly what Lint did Monday night in a 10-1 win over the Moncton Mets as Wilson took the mound and went the distance giving up one run on six hits while Washburn went two for three with five RBI, including a three run home run to start the scoring.
Photo by Royal Photographer Kaden Clowater
Washburn, who has been absolutely on fire all season long, beefed up his Triple Crown credentials as he added five more RBI and one more home run to his league leading totals, which now sit at 40 and nine, respectively. He was batting out of the seven spot in the order during the game, an odd sight to see for a player who is leading the league in average, home runs and RBI, but that just speaks to what sort of potential this offence has.
“There are no easy outs in our lineup anywhere, and you saw that tonight with Washburn,” said Lint. “It doesn’t matter if he’s hitting third, fifth or seventh, he had five more RBI tonight. Quite honestly at this point,
I’m quite certain we could draw names out of a hat and run out a lineup and be ok. No disrespect to anyone else in this league, that’s just the way our team is going right now.”
Wilson turned in yet another solid outing on the mound, going all seven innings giving up just one run, walking none and only giving up six hits. With the dynamic offence the Royals have, when the pitching staff can limit the opposition to one run you are looking good for a win.
“We have talked earlier in the year about winning games that weren’t necessarily pretty,” said Lint about his team’s play this year. “12-8, 13-9, we are scoring a lot of runs but its really good at this time of the year to see our pitching and defense tighten up. We played a game last night without an error and I think we only made one tonight. It’s good to have our pitchers throwing strikes and not walking anyone, Deke [Wilson] didn’t walk anyone tonight, and Steve [McCarty] didn’t walk anyone last night either.”
The Royals will look to keep the defense and pitching hot on the re st of the week as they play in Saint John Thursday, at Baseball Hill Friday and Saturday against Chatham and Charlottetown, respectively, before heading to Moncton on Sunday for a rematch against the Mets.