Monarchs 3, Goldeyes 2 – Boxscore
The Winnipeg Goldeyes (50-45) lost 3-2 to the Kansas City Monarchs at Shaw Park on Tuesday night.
The Monarchs (61-34) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Kevin Santa scored on a two-out wild pitch.
With two outs and no one on base, Mallex Smith hit an opposite-field home run to left-centre in the top of the fifth that made it 2-0.
Dylan Harris singled to right leading off the top of the seventh and scored Kansas City’s third run on a two-out Goldeyes’ error.
In the bottom of the ninth, Kevin Lachance singled leading off. Two batters later, Reggie Pruitt Jr. slugged a two-run home run to left. Monarchs’ closer James McGrane retired the next two hitters to earn his 17th save of the season. Ian Sagdal hit a long drive to right-centre that was caught by Smith on the warning track for the final out.
Monarchs’ starter Matt Hall (10-2) picked up the win, pitching six shutout innings on six hits. Hall walked two, struck out 10, and lowered his ERA to 1.10. The American Association single-season record is 1.75 held by Kyle Middleton of the Pensacola Pelicans in 2009.
Freisis Adames (7-4) started for the Goldeyes and took the loss, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits over five innings. Adames walked two and struck out four. It was Adames’ first start since August 4th.
Paul Schwendel, Will McAffer, and Tasker Strobel each worked a scoreless inning of relief for Winnipeg. Sagdal’s nine-game hitting streak came to an end.
Cougars 16, RailCats 6 – Boxscore
The Gary SouthShore RailCats were powerless against a potent Kane County Cougars offensive attack as they stormed away to a 16-6 victory.
Though the Cougars led the game throughout, the RailCats managed to hang around in the early stages. After falling behind by two after the top of the first, Michael Woodworth answered back as his leadoff home run brought the Kane County lead down to 2-1.
The Cougars were quick to respond with a three-run home run in the top of the second, but the RailCats for four two-out runs to tie the score in the bottom of the inning. Following a Sam Abbott walk and singles from Woodworth and Thomas Greely, Daniel Lingua‘s base hit brought home two before he and Woodworth pulled off a delayed steal of home to plate one more. The next batter, LG Castillo, banged a double off the right field wall to chase Lingua home, and the RailCats found themselves on level footing at 5-5.
However, the Cougars immediately fired themselves back in front with two tallies in the third, and they added on in the fourth by putting up a four-run rally to go up 11-5.
Not to be deterred, Lester Madden cut into the Kane County advantage in the bottom of the fourth. He made his first hit at The Steel Yard count as he launched a solo home run over the left field wall, lowering the RailCat deficit to five.
At that point, the Cougars began to pull away. Two runs each in the sixth and eighth innings along with one in the seventh extended their edge to double-digits, and five straight scoreless innings from four different pitchers shut the RailCats offense down to secure the win.
RedHawks 0, Explorers 2 – Boxscore
Nivaldo Rodriguez struck out nine batters across seven shutout innings and the Sioux City Explorers won their third consecutive game with a 2-0 shutout victory over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.
The Explorers picked up the only run they needed in the bottom of the first. Danny Amaral reached on a single to center field to lead off the frame. He stole second and third, giving him 45 swiped bags this season. That tied him for the Explorers single season franchise record with Michael Lang from the 2015 season.
Amaral then scored on a Danry Vasquez ground ball to second base to give the X’s a 1-0 lead.
Nivaldo Rodriguez was dominant in his fourth start with the X’s. He retired the first twelve RadHawks that he faced and allowed only three total base runners on a pair of hits and a walk. For a third consecutive start Rodriguez collected nine strikeouts.
Twice Fargo stranded the tying run at third. In the fifth Leo Pina singled, and stole second and reached third on an error before being stranded. In the seventh after a Boscan double that led off the inning, Pina hit a fly ball to right field, Boscan attempted to tag and score but was thrown out at the plate to keep the Explorers lead intact at 1-0.
Taking the tough luck loss for Fargo was Tyler Grauer (10-4) he only allowed the first inning run while tossing six innings and allowed four hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Sioux City added an insurance run in the eighth. Amaral was hit by a pitch with one out and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches. He scored on a Vasquez sacrifice fly to left field to give Sioux City a 2-0 lead.
Thomas McIlraith (19) earned the save with a scoreless ninth inning with a strikeout.
Saltdogs 16, Canaries 5 – Boxscore
Luke Roskam had two homers and six RBIs, and the ‘Dogs rolled to an 16-5 win over the Sioux Falls Canaries in the series opener Tuesday night at Sioux Fall Stadium.
The ‘Dogs (44-50) opened the scoring with Roskam’s three-run homer in the 2nd inning. After Justin Byrd added another with an RBI single, Rayder Ascanio hit a three-run homer to cap off a seven-run inning.
The Canaries (31-63) scored the next three runs. Connor Blair’s sacrifice fly made it 7-1 in the bottom of the 2nd, and Gavin LaValley’s two-run single made it 7-3 in the 3rd.
Lincoln scored three more runs on three straight RBI doubles in the 4th inning. Byrd, Ascanio and Ryan Long each added a run and the ‘Dogs led 10-3.
The Canaries got two back in the 4th, when John Nester hit an RBI single and Ozzie Martinez hit an RBI double.
Lincoln responded with two more in the 6th. Justin Byrd hit a solo homer and Jason Rogers added an RBI single, and the ‘Dogs led 12-5. Byrd then made it 13-5 with an RBI groundout in the 7th before Roskam’s second three-run homer made it 16-5 in the 8th.
The ‘Dogs scored a season-high 16 runs and Roskam’s six RBIs were the most for a Saltdog this season.
Garett Delano improved to 7-3, allowing four earned runs across six innings. R.J. Fruere pitched two scoreless innings and Steffon Moore faced the minimum in the 9th inning.
Sioux City beat the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 2-0, so the ‘Dogs are still three games back of the Explorers with six games remaining.
DockHounds 7, Railroaders 13 – Boxscore
A close game quickly headed south for the Lake Country DockHounds (34-60) against the Cleburne Railroaders (44-50) after a nine-run 7th inning locked in a victory for the Railroaders.
Things were looking food for the DockHounds in the top of the 1st when Gabriel Noriega hit a 2-RBI double and then TJ Bennett scored on a Daikan Yoh sacrifice fly to center field.
Quickly, however, the Railroaders clawed their way back into contention as they scored three runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Kacy Clemens, Nick Schumpert, and Edwin Arroyo all pushed base runners home on a single, double, and walk respectively.
Teams traded runs to make the game 4-4 and the DockHounds put up three in the top of the 7th when Noriega knocked in Tristen Carranza on an RBI single. Yoh scored the other two runs on a 2-run HR.
Things went haywire for the DockHounds in the bottom of the 7th. Althought there were no homers, the Railroaders scored nine runs on seven hits The highlight of this is that Kacy Clemens came up to bat twice and had 3 total RBIs on two different at bats in the same inning.
Dogs 1, Milkmen 5 – Boxscore
A mostly single-sided game led to the Milwaukee Milkmen (50-44) defeating the Chicago Dogs (52-42) as they both hunt down the #1 seed in the East.
Will Kengor hit a solo HR in the bottom of the 1st to start the scoring. This was followed by a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 2nd from Carl Chester. Kengor then scored again in the bottom of the 3rd.
The last run for the Milkmen came from an RBI single in the bottom of the 6th from Jeremiah Burks.
The only run for the Dogs was score in the top of the 8th from an Eric Rivera RBI single to center field.