American Association Capsule – August 4: Laredo, Lincoln Remain Hot; Gary, Winnipeg Slumping
Sioux City 8, Winnipeg 0
The Winnipeg Goldeyes are putting themselves in a very dangerous position. They are dangling the first place lead in the North Division in St. Paul’s face, and may find themselves battling for the wild card spot if they don’t get their game back together. Winnipeg fell again Monday night to Sioux City, this time being blanked 8-0. Starter Alex Cadera had his best start since June 22, going six innings and giving up just two hits while striking out six. Three Explorers had a big game at the plate, with Rene Tosoni going 2-4 at the plate and scoring three runs, Peter Barrows hitting his ninth home run of the year, and Tommy Mendonca going 2-4, with a triple and four RBI. It was a dominating performance from Sioux City, who led from the fourth inning on, and never really gave the chance for Winnipeg to be in contention.
Laredo 4, Grand Prairie 0
Cesar Carrillo pitched his first complete game shutout of the year, leading the Lemurs to a 4-0 win over the AirHogs. Carrillo gave up just six hits and two walks, while striking out nine in going the distance to move his record to 6-4 on the season. Carlos Ramirez had a big night at the plate, going 2-4 with a homer and three RBI. Two other Lemurs performed well at the plate with Denis Phipps going 3-5 to raise his average to .382 (second best in the league), and Nick Van Statten moved his hitting streak to nine game, going 2-5 with a run scored. Since the All-Star break Van Statten is 13-30 with 11 runs scored and six RBI.
Amarillo 10, Sioux Falls 9
For fans of a big hitting game, the 10-9 win by the Amarillo Sox is one for the ages. Every player in both starting lineups had a hit, and 13 different players had at least two, while five had at least three. The teams combined for 37 hits and eight walks in the slugfest. For Sioux Falls, Steven Tinoco went 3-6 with a run scored, and Chris Duffy went 3-4 with two runs, an RBI and his 11th home run of the year. A.J. Kirby-Jones also homered for the Canaries, his 16th of the year. For Amarillo, Joe Weik went 3-4 with a run, two RBI and two walks, and Kyle Bellows belted out four hits in five trips to the plate with a run and an RBI. The Sox showed a great deal of spunk in battling back to win. They were down 9-2 entering the bottom of the sixth, but scored two in the sixth, four in the seventh and one in each of the last two innings to take the game. Andres Rodriguez’s walk-off single won the game.
Lincoln 9, Gary Southshore 8
Coming out of the All-Star break the Lincoln Saltdogs had a great chance to make up some ground against Gary Southshore to grab the Central Division title, as the two teams continued their three game series Monday night. Take advantage is exactly what they did. For the second consecutive night the Saltdogs won, this time in extra innings, moving them just three games behind Gary for the division lead. The game had all the makings for a real shoot out as Gary was up 3-0 after two. Lincoln then scored seven in the top of the fifth, only to see the RailCats get four in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game. Lincoln would finally win it when Mike Gilmartin hit his second home run of the game, and fourth of the year, to put the Saltdogs ahead 9-7. They would then turn to Marshal Schuler to close it out, and after giving up a run he recorded the final out for his 25th save of the season.
By Robert Pannier
Senior Baseball Editor
Member of the IBWAA