American Association Capsule – August 3: Laredo Splits with Grand Prairie; Gary, Winnipeg Fall
Sioux City 10, Winnipeg 3
After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning, the Sioux Falls Explorer scored ten unanswered runs over the next six innings on their way to the 10-3 victory. LF Oscar Mesa had a huge game for the Explorers going 5-5 with two runs and an RBI. 3B Amos Ramon had a 4-5 day with a run and two RBI. Donnie Webb had two hits and two RBI for the Goldeyes, who are trying to hold off St. Paul in the North Division standings. Jonathan Sintes was hit hard in his first appearance for Winnipeg since being signed, going 3.1 innings, yielding 10 hits and five runs. Jesse English got hit hard for the third straight time for Sioux City, and Alex Burnett (4-1) got the win in relief.
Laredo 4-8, Grand Prairie 5-5
Laredo split a double-header with Grand Prairie, losing the first game 5-4, before rebounding for an 8-4 win in the second. In the first game, the AirHogs got seven solid innings from Aaron Wilkerson, and won in 10 innings 5-4. Grand Prairie led 1-0 since the second inning, then gave up two in the top of the eighth to trail 2-1. In the bottom half, the AirHogs got one back that tied the game, and eventually sent it into extra innings. In the top of the 10th Laredo looked like they had it locked up when they scratched out two runs on just one hit, but Lemurs reliever Josh Strawn could not hold it, giving up three runs on two hits and a walk of his own, as the AirHogs won on a walk-off error by right fielder Byron Wiley to win the suspended game 5-4.
In the second game, Laredo won 8-4 after scoring seven in the third inning that helped to stake them to an 8-4 lead, and then they simply coasted the rest of the way. Jeremy Strawn (5-0), whose brother dropped the first game of the double header, pitched five effective innings for the win, and CF Nick Van Stratten went 2-5 with two runs and two RBI in the win. 2B Alex Nunez had three hits in the loss for Grand Prairie.
Lincoln 5, Gary Southshore 3
The Central Division leading Gary Southshore RailCats had a chance to put some room between themselves and Lincoln, but instead lost 5-3 at home. Six Saltdogs players had at least two hits, but it was Jon Gaston who had the big stick on the day, going 3-5 with a run and four RBI. His three hits included his fifth home run of the year, and he left the game hitting .311. Marquis Fleming (8-3), who was the winner in the American Association All-Star game, got the win, and Marshall Schuler closed out the game for his 24th save of the season, tops in the league.
Amarillo 5, Souix Falls 2
The Sox got a big come-from-behind win by scoring three in the bottom of the eighth to erase a 3-2 deficit and down the Canaries 5-3. Amarillo cannot really claim that they pulled the game out, considering that relievers Joe Testa and Kye Winter gave up just one hit and walked five to provide the rally. Testa took the loss and has struggled since being acquired from Sioux Falls late last month, posting a 7.94 ERA in five appearances, after having a 1.92 ERA in 22 appearances for the Canaries. Kellen Moen (3-6) got the win in relief for Amarillo, and Randy Hamrick closed out the game for his third save of the season.
By Robert Pannier
Senior Baseball Editor
Member of the IBWAA