De La Trinidad Leads Cougars, Maris Drives in Six, Bockelie Gets Railroaders Rolling
American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. In today’s edition, Robert Pannier recaps the five games in the American Association on Thursday, including Ernie De La Trinidad recording six hits and driving in five runs for the Kane County Cougars, Jacob Bockelie leads the Cleburne Railroaders to victory, and Peter Maris his a grand slam as part of a six RBI performance for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. This, plus much more.
LaValley Homer Leads Canaries to Victory
Gavin LaValley hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning, capping off the second straight for run frame of the afternoon as the Canaries defeated the Winnipeg Goldeyes, 8-6. Winnipeg jumped out to a 4-0 lead, scoring a run in the first and adding three more in the fourth. Deon Stafford added a two-run blast to extend the lead to four.
Sioux Falls rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the fifth inning as Zane Gurwitz drilled a two-run double and LaValley followed with a ground out that brought home two more runs. Winnipeg responded right away, scoring two runs in the top of the sixth with one coming in on the third homerun of the season by Kevin Lachance. The Canaries were not to be topped, however, as Angelo Altavilla tied the score with an RBI double and LaValley drilled his homerun three batters later.
LaValley finished 2-5 with a run scored and four RBI. Altavilla and Gurwitz each scored two runs. Nate Garkow earned the victory with a scoreless inning of relief and Mitchell Walters came on to record his fourth save the season. Lachance and Stafford each had two hits, scored two runs, and drove in a pair of runs.
Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Jason Young
Bockelie Drives in Five to Lead Railroaders
The Cleburne Railroaders received three hits and five RBI from Jacob Bockelie, as they defeated the Milwaukee Milkmen, 11-9. The victory helped the club avoid the sweep of the three-game series.
Cleburne jumped out to a three-run lead in the top first inning as Bockelie drove in his first runs of the game with a two-run single. The Milkmen responded with two in the bottom half of the frame, but the Railroaders put three more on the board in the third, capped off by a two-run homer off the bat of Bockelie, his seventh of the season.
Milwaukee battled back to pull within one, but Cleburne scored single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, then put up two more in the eighth, giving them what looked like a commanding 11-5 lead. Hill Alexander it a two-run homer in the eighth, his seventh of the year. However, the Milkmen were not done, scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run at second base, but Nick Gardewine was able to get Bryan Torres to ground out in the contest for his eighth save of the season.
Michael Wong earned the victory while Ryan Zimmerman took the loss. Bockelie finished 3-4 with runs scored and five RBI. Zach Nehrir was 3-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. Aaron Hill had two hits and drove in two runs for Milwaukee. Torres had two hits and scored two runs.
Kinley Silences Dogs
Jeff Kinley tossed 5.1 shutout innings, combining with two relievers as the Chicago Dogs blanked the Lake Country DockHounds, 5-0. Chicago took command of this game from the start, scoring three runs in the top of the first thanks to a Ryan Lidge three-run homer, his 10th of the year. That score remained intact until the sixth when Stevie Wilkerson led off with his seventh homerun of the season. Chicago added one more run in the seventh on an RBI single by Lidge.
That was more than enough support for Kinley, who scattered three hits and four walks while striking out eight. Joe Cavallaro came on in the sixth with two on and one down and was able to get out of the jam. Cavallaro tossed 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. Ryan Clark came on and completed the shutout, striking out five in two innings.
Lidge finished 2-4 with a run scored and four RBI. Charlie Tilson scored two runs. No one on the DockHounds had more than one hit in the contest.
De La Trinidad Leads Cougars over Monarchs
Ernie De La Trinidad was a perfect 6-6 with four runs scored and five RBI to lead the Kane County Cougars to a 12-6 victory over the Kansas City Monarchs. De La Trinidad led off the game with a homerun, but Kansas City jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first as Casey Gillaspie added a two run double. However, Kane County responded with nine unanswered runs to take command of this contest.
De La Trinidad added an RBI double in the second and Dylan Busby put his team on top for good with a two-run shot in the third, his eighth of the year. Two innings later, De La Trinidad singled home Nick Anderson and Alexis Pantoja followed with a two-run single to make it 8-3. De La Trinidad was on a roll, drilling a two run double in the sixth, giving him five RBI on the evening.
Westin Muir (3-0) allowed three runs in 5.0 innings to remain undefeated. Jon Harris took the loss. Jimmy Kerrigan had three hits and Galli Cribbs had two hits and scored three runs. Pantoja had two hits and drove in three. J.C. Escarra had a big day for Kansas City, going 3-3, including hitting his ninth homerun of the season.
Kansas City Monarchs Recap by Caleb Grizzle
Five-Run Fifth Propels RedHawks to Series Sweep
The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks erased a two-run deficit, scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth on their way to an 8-3 victory over the Sioux City Explorers. That helped Fargo-Moorhead complete the sweep of the three-game set, as they moved back into sole possession of first in the West Division, thanks to a five-game winning streak.
Sioux City took the lead with single runs in the first and second innings. Trey Martin drove home Danny Amaral in the first and Amaral delivered an RBI single in the second. Zach Hedges was in complete command through the first four frames, but things unraveled in the fifth. After retiring the first batter of the inning, the next three reached against Hedges and Peter Maris made him pay, turning on a 2-1 pitch for a grand slam, his 13th of the year. Drew Ward followed with a solo shot, his 15th of the year, and the RedHawks were in command.
Brady Stover took over in the fifth and earned the victory with two scoreless innings of relief. Maris finished 3-4 with a run and six RBI. Maris had two doubles and homered in the contest. Ward and Ben Livorsi each had two hits and scored two runs. Amaral scored two runs for the Explorers.
Sioux City Explorers Recap by Connor Ryan
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – Peter Maris (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks) 3-4, R, 2 Doubles, HR, 6 RBI, HBP
No. 2 – Jacob Bockelie (Cleburne Railroaders) 3-4, R, HR, 5 RBI
No. 1 – Ernie De La Trinidad (Kane County Cougars) 6-6, 4 R, 2 Doubles, HR, 5 RBI
American Association Daily Notes
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks IF Drew Ward returned from injured reserve on Thursday, going 2-5 with two runs scored. Ward had been out since the All-Star break… Winnipeg Goldeyes IF Raul Navarro extended his hitting streak to 24 straight games. That is the longest streak in the American Association this season. Navarro is hitting .420 during the run… Cleburne Railroaders IF Edwin Arroyo has a 16-game road hitting streak. That is tied for the longest road hitting streak in the league this year… Chicago Dogs catcher Ryan Lidge has 10 combined RBI over the last two games, homering in each of those contests.
Transactions
Chicago: Placed RHP Justin Goossen-Brown on the Injured List retroactive to July 21; Placed RHP Paul Schwendel on the Injured List retroactive to July 28
Kane County: Placed RHP Logan Nissen on the Inactive List retroactive to July 16; Signed RHP Mike Morin
Kansas City: Placed RHP Justin Donatella on the Inactive List retroactive to July 25; Signed INF Ryan Grotjohn; Traded Willie Abreu to Sioux Falls for the reversionary rights to OF Wyatt Ulrich
Fargo-Moorhead: Claimed LHP Tom Windle off waivers from Sioux City
Sioux Falls: Placed RHP Riley Ferrell on the Injured List retroactive to July 25
By Robert Pannier
