Jul. 23—No oddsmaker would have ever put odds on Cade Moore being the losing pitcher for the Rex on Thursday night at Bob Warn Field.
For one thing, Moore — the recent Terre Haute North High School graduate, who pitched for Wayne Newton Post 346 in an American Legion baseball tournament Sunday — was a spectator a night earlier when the Rex had lost a doubleheader to the Danville Dans.
And for another thing, Moore entered Thursday’s game against the Dans with the Rex trailing 8-1 and looking like a beaten team.
But Rex manager A.J. Reed has been consistent all season in praising his team’s ability to come from behind and the Rex proved that again by giving Moore a 9-8 lead going into the ninth, before the Dans rallied for a 13-9 win.
The same two teams, rivals for the last playoff spot in the Wabash River Division of Prospect League baseball, will play again Friday and Saturday at Danville and back at Bob Warn Field on Sunday.
Reed might request a different plate umpire if he could.
The Rex gave up 13 walks in the opener of a doubleheader Wednesday and added seven more free passes with the same man in black calling the balls (a lot) and strikes (rarely) in the first three innings Thursday.
That’s when Moore entered the game and shut down the Dans, mostly by not walking people, through the eighth.
The Rex got one run back in the bottom of the sixth on an error and a double by Nate Wolf.
In the seventh, they got RBI singles from Kaleb Hannahs and Wolf and then four straight walks — bases-loaded ones to Connor Hicks, Nate Barrett and Connor VanLannen, who had started the big inning with another walk — and were within 8-7.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Hannahs hit a triple. He was still there one batter later, when the Dans elected to walk Wolf intentionally, and then Dylan Janke got a two-run double when Danville center fielder Johnathon Thomas missed a diving catch attempt. The Rex led 9-8.
But Danville’s Keenan Taylor led off the top of the ninth with a game-tying homer, and the visitors added four more runs that inning.
Hicks got the last two outs — and walked three, running the Rex total to 12 — and he and Moore became the 31st and 32nd players to take the mound for the Rex this season.
VanLannen, by the way, played second base for the second straight game (after pitching in Wednesday’s opener) and started a key double play in addition to his two walks in the big rally. And Barrett was a member of the Rex pressbox staff Wednesday before being recruited to play right field Thursday.
Hannahs, Wolf and Janke all had two hits for the Rex.
—Danville 4, Rex 3 — In Wednesday night’s second game, the Rex suffered another heartbreaking loss.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Tyler Nelson singled, got to third on an error and scored on Alec Brunson’s sacrifice fly, the Rex fell behind 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth.
The first five Rex batters — Dylan Janke, Connor Van Lannen, Kyle Harbison, Connor Hicks and Canton Terry — singled in the ninth, but Janke was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Harbison’s hit and the tying and winning runs were left stranded.