Despite pitching implosion, Kentucky Baseball earns 13-12 walk-off win

Magdiel Cotto and the rest of the Kentucky pitching staff took the idea of a Saturday stroll a little too literally. Kentucky walked double-digit batters and hit a couple more as they let Western Michigan put up a 12-spot before being saved by a scorching Wildcat offense in a wild 13-12 walk-off win

Magdiel Cotto stumbles in his home debut

One of the more intriguing facets of Kentucky’s weekend series was Magdiel Cotto and how he would follow up his stellar debut as a Wildcat. The former South Carolina pitcher was frankly disappointing in his first time throwing in front of a home crowd.

The sophomore couldn’t last three innings as he labored through a short stint. In the limited action, Cotto gave up four hits, three walks and a grand slam — enough to have six runs credited to his name. Oddly enough, none of those runs were technically earned. It still doesn’t make sense.

“When you look, the first seven of those guys that scored are a walk or an HBP,” Nick Mingione noted after the game. “When you do that you’re one swing away from doing something big and that’s what [Western Michigan] did to their credit. I mean… they hit two grand slams right?“

It’s just his second start, following a masterful performance, but Cotto is going to have to come out more consistently before we put away the concerns of his control.

Bullpen can’t stop the bleeding

Daniel Harper came in to relieve Magdiel Cotto in the second inning and was arguably more lost than him. Harper only saw six batters, giving up two hits and two walks while hitting a batter in the process. This forced Mingione to throw in Ryan Hagenow with the bases loaded and no outs in the third. Hagenow did as much as he could to limit the damage, striking out two while only allowing one man to cross home plate to finish the inning.

Unfortunately, Hagenow gave the ball up to Tyler Guilfoil later with very similar circumstances. Hagenow loaded up the bases with one out before passing it on. Following the theme of the day, Guilfoil walked in a run before allowing a grand slam, making it a 12-4 game in the sixth.

If there’s anything positive to build on out of the pen, Zack Lee continued his stellar start to the season with 2.1 innings of no-hit ball. Sean Harney also pitched 3.1 scoreless innings before being followed by Austin Strickland.

Offense continues to save the team this weekend

The Wildcats have now scored 27 runs in the past two games — that’ll usually play.

Kentucky scored early again on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats were up 3-0 by the end of two innings. Oddly enough though, all three of those runs came from balls that never left the infield. Adam Fogel reached first on an infield hit to the second basemen, who subsequently threw wide of first base. This allowed Ryan Ritter to scamper around from second base to score. Beautifully executed bunt singles by Devin Burkes and John Thrasher brought in the other couple of runs in the second. It was both Burkes first hit and RBI as a Wildcat. Jake Plastiak launched a two-run shot, his third of the year already, to make it a 12-6 UK deficit in the seventh.

“We’re down eight and we had nine outs to go and we scored eight runs. I thought that was obviously the difference in the ball game,” Mingione added.

Kentucky cut the deficit to one with a five-run eighth inning, capped by a three-RBI double for Anu. The Wildcats tied the game in the ninth when the Western Michigan shortstop dropped a pop up from Hunter Jump that would’ve sealed the game. Ryan Ritter, running with two outs, scored all the way from first.

In the bottom of the 12th, Jace Felker reached first base on a fielder’s choice after Plastiak led the inning off with a walk. Chase Estep followed up with a single up the middle that should’ve had the Cats with men on the corners. The Western Michigan shortstop made another error gathering the cutoff throw, allowing Felker to scamper home with the winning run.

Kentucky walks it off on a single, turned error by the shortstop, that allows Felker to score from first. 13-12. 12 innings. Let’s go home pic.twitter.com/W2fOy14Egz

— Eric Decker (@Edecker17) February 26, 2022

“Ryan Ritter, down to his last strike. I mean the game is going to be over and down to our last strike he gets a huge hit and provided the other guys an opportunity to get it done,” Mingione said.

The Wildcats will look to secure a series sweep and keep the good moral going into the week. Especially with who they have coming to town a week from now. Sunday’s game is set to begin at 1 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on SEC Network+.