BOISE, Idaho — Bryant’s Ben Wells made his second start for the Boise Hawks,[more] the Chicago Cubs Class A half-season team in the Northwest League, on Wednesday night against the Tri-City Dust Devils (Colorado Rockies).
In a 3-2 win for the Hawks, Wells pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up just one run on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He left with the game tied 1-1.
The right-haneder pitched around a first-inning error and a balk then worked a 1-2-3 second, finishing both frames with a strikeout. In the third, Tri-City’s David Hernandez beat out an infield hit, advancing to second on an errant pickoff throw and to third on a grounder to second. But he was stranded there when Wells got the next batter, Timothy Smalling, to fly to center to end the inning. In the fourth, Wells surrendered just a two-out single.
Wells recorded his third strikeout to start the fifth but a double, a steal of third, a walk and a double steal produced a run. After a second walk, Jose Rosario relieved Wells and got out of the inning. Boise scored twice in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.
Wells, who helped the Bryant Hornets win the Class 7A State championship in 2010, was drafted by the Cubs that June. He pitched in extended spring training in Arizona before beginning his first official season of professional baseball with the Hawks this month.
If the Hawks rotation holds, Wells should face the Spokane Indians at Boise on Monday, June 27.
