The significance was lost at the time and didn’t immediately register when Gary’s Jose Gonzalez fouled off a two-strike pitch from Wingnuts right-hander Alex Boshers on June 4.

Boshers entered as a reliever in the first inning that Saturday and was still pitching in the fourth when Gonzalez swung at Boshers’ 51st pitch. It was uncharted territory.

“I’d only trained for 50 pitches all offseason,” he said. “That was the most I threw.”

Boshers threw 22 more pitches that day and gave the Wingnuts an idea – or at least confirmation of an idea first-year manager Pete Rose Jr. and pitching coach Luke Robertson considered before the season.

After 41 relief appearances for the Wingnuts over two seasons, Boshers could become a starter.

Now, heading into a homestand beginning Friday against Texas, it looks like a genius plan. Boshers has an 11-3 record with a 3.32 ERA and hasn’t lost since June 29, going 8-0 in his last eight starts. He has become the Wingnuts’ starter for all situations – ending losing streaks or extending them.

“(Former manager) Kevin Hooper was pretty strong in saying he wanted me out of the bullpen for him,” Boshers said. “Management changed and Pete came in, and it was kind of the same deal. An injury with Anthony Capra kind of opened the door for me, and I just took it from there.”

While Capra dealt with a hamstring issue, the Wingnuts looked for other options and weren’t set on Boshers as a permanent member of the rotation. But in supposed one-off starts after the 4 1/3-inning relief appearance against Gary, Boshers continued to impress.

“After about the third start, it was kind of decided that unless something starts going south, we’ll leave him in there and see what kind of run he could make,” Boshers said.

The run was virtually immediate. On July 5, Boshers pitched a complete game in a win over Texas. Two starts later, he matched those nine innings in a victory over Sioux Falls. Boshers hasn’t lost since the start before his first complete game.

The adjustments forced by a dramatic change in workload have mostly helped Boshers. Since he hadn’t previously pitched more than 2 1/3 innings, the Wingnuts have monitored his appearances and given him up to eight days between starts.

That time has allowed Boshers to condition – mind and body – like a starter. His offseason routine was built around reaching optimum performance in limited time. Now, longevity is most important.

“It was hard for me to lift weights and prepare myself because you never know what situation you’re going to get put in (as a reliever),” Boshers said. “You might go three, four days in a row and the last thing you want to do is go get a lift in and be sore.

“Going into the rotation, having the four days in between and sometimes more, opened me up to be able to lift to get my muscles stronger. I run a lot more to try to keep my legs under me for distance, to where I can get some more endurance out of them instead of that one-, two-inning power load.”

The lack of a defined role as a reliever has also helped Boshers transition. There were no guarantees on when he would enter a game or how long he would pitch, so Boshers couldn’t settle into a mentality or a routine that closers or setup relievers use.

Boshers often calls upon his experiences as a reliever when he runs into trouble.

“A lot of times I would come in to some jams and be expected to get out of them,” Boshers said. “It’s definitely helped me in a starter’s role, because … maybe I don’t get into a jam, and then all of a sudden I do. I can flip the switch back to bullpen mode. ‘Got to be smarter here, got to find my way out of something.’

“That’s definitely helped me go deep into some ballgames, a lot of games that I shouldn’t have gone as deep in.”

By Jeffrey Lutz
The Wichita Eagle