St. Paul 16, New Jersey 3 – Box
St. Paul clean-up hitter Henry Wrigley wreaked havoc in Sunday’s interleague matchup against the New Jersey Jackals, batting 5-for-6 with seven RBIs in a 16-3 win. Saints’ CF Evan Bigley (pictured) also raked Sunday, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs in the blowout. Batting second, in front of Bigley and Wrigley, LF Joe Bonfe went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and two walks and scored five times.
Wrigley tied the game at one in the fourth when he advanced on an error by Jackals’ 3B Steve Nikorak, scoring Bonfe. He also broke the game open during the Saints’ six-run sixth inning when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and cleared them with a three-RBI double. Wrigley added a three-run homer in the ninth to cap his career day at the plate.
Pitching with plenty of run support, St. Paul starter Robert Coe went seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits. Coe, the game’s winning pitcher, struck out eight and walked one in his second start of the season.
Fargo-Moorhead 2, Sioux City 1 – Box
Fargo-Moorhead starter Jake Laber and Sioux City’s John Straka — both North Dakota State University alums — dueled for eight innings Sunday afternoon, but Laber came away the victor after tossing eight innings of one-run ball. The RedHawks beat the Sioux City Explorers 2-1, with Laber allowing four hits, no walks and striking out seven to move to 2-1 on the season.
Sioux City took an early 1-0 lead, when Laber balked home Explorers’ C Todd Jennings in the top of the third. The RedHawks wrestled back a lead in the bottom of the fourth when LF Sawyer Carroll and 3B Ronnie Bourquin led off the inning with a single and a double, respectively. 1B C.J. Retherford then scored Carroll on a sacrifice fly, and after CF Nic Jackson walked, C Petey Paramore plated the go-ahead run with an RBI single to left field. The two starters then hurled four scoreless frames before right-hander Nate Garcia closed it out for Fargo-Moorhead in the ninth.
Straka allowed five hits, four walks and two earned runs, while striking out five across eight innings in his complete-game loss.
Lincoln 4, Winnipeg 1 – Box
The Lincoln Saltdogs handed Winnipeg their first back-to-back losses of the season by following up last night’s win with a 4-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Shaw Park in Winnipeg. The Saltdogs struck first in the fourth inning, when they brought two runs home without recording a hit.
RF Brian Joynt walked to lead off the inning and 1B Ian Gac was then hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. 3B Kevin Howard moved Joynt over to third on a fielder’s choice and scored when the Goldeyes tried to throw out Howard stealing second. Howard advanced to third on an errant throw and scored when SS Mike Gilmartin grounded out to second, giving the Saltdogs a 2-0 lead.
The Goldeyes cut Lincoln’s lead in half on 2B Jake Blackwood’s RBI single in the fifth, which scored 3B Ryan Pineda. Pineda led the Goldeyes with two hits and a walk. But in the eighth Joynt made it 4-1, sending a first-pitch offering out of the park for a two-run homer.
Lincoln starter Marquis Fleming went seven innings and allowed just one run on five hits. He struck out seven and walked three. He is now 2-2 this season, sporting a 1.36 ERA. Right-handed closer Marshall Schuler recorded his fourth save of the season in the ninth.
Wichita 8, Gary SouthShore 3 – Box
SS Ryan Khoury and LF Carlo Testa, who bat first and second for Wichita, set the tone for the rest of the lineup, combining for five hits and four RBIs in an 8-3 win.
Testa took a 1-1 pitch in the first inning over the wall for a solo home run to give Wichita its first lead. The RailCats took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, but Khoury singled in RF David Amberson and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead for Wichita, 3-2.
Khoury and Testa hit back-to-back RBI singles in the bottom of the eighth inning and 3B Brent Clevlen hit a two-RBI triple to score Khoury and Testa and give the Wingnuts a commanding 8-2 lead that withstand a ninth-inning solo home run from RailCats’ 1B Wally Backman.
Right-handed starter Tim Brown (3-1, 2.76 ERA) earned the win for Wingnuts, keeping Gary SouthShore to two runs on seven hits. Brown struck out one and walked one in 6 1/3 innings.
Kansas City 3, Sioux Falls 2 (Completion of a Suspended Game from May 31) – Box
Yesterday’s game between the Kansas City T-Bones and the Sioux Falls Canaries was suspended due to rain in the top of the fourth inning with the score tied at one, but play resumed today and the T-Bones finished off Sioux Falls, 3-2. SS Vladamir Frias led the T-Bones offense with three hits, but none were more important than his go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning.
Frias went 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored, bringing his batting average through 16 games to .351. T-Bones’ 1B David Espinosa, C Brian Erie and LF Darrell Hudson each had two hits in the win.
The teams each scored a run in the second inning and Hudson gave the T-Bones a 2-1 lead in the fourth with an RBI single. Canaries’ LF Steven Tinoco tied the game at two in the fifth with an RBI double but Frias’s double in the eighth put the Canaries away.
Four Kansas City pitchers combined to limit the Canaries to two runs on seven hits, with relief pitcher Jared Messer getting the win after pitching four innings in relief. The four innings marked a season-high for Messer, who allowed one run on three hits and struck out four Sunday. Closer Kris Regas retired three batters in order in the ninth to pick up his third save of the season.
Kansas City at Sioux Falls (Regularly Scheduled Game — Postponed)
The second game of today’s doubleheader between Kansas City and Sioux Falls was postponed due to rain.
