By Jack Ankony, Chicago Dogs

The Dogs showed no mercy at the plate on June 7, cranking six home runs en route to a 12-6 win at Mercy Field versus the Sioux City Explorers.

K.C. Hobson was the winner of Monday’s home run derby, as he extended his hit streak to 10 games. Hobson hit two towering home runs and finished with three RBI to pace the Dogs.

Eight of nine Dogs hitters recorded a hit, and the Dogs were one long ball short of tying the league record of seven home runs in a game by one team.

Hobson started the home run parade in the first inning, and was followed by Johnny Adams who hit his seventh home run of the season, which is tied for second in the American Association. After Hobson’s second home run of the game in the third inning, Harrison Smith hit his third home run of the season in the fourth inning.

Smith’s three-run shot to left field was followed by back-to-back home runs from Anfernee Grier and Grant Kay in the seventh inning. Grier now has six hits in the last four games and at least on hit in 10 of the last 11 games. Kay’s three-run home run in the seventh was the cherry on top of a game where the Dogs tied their season high of runs scored with 12.

Sioux City manager Steve Montgomery was ejected in the top of the 7th after arguing a ball versus strike call. Montgomery took a page out of Butch Hobson’s book by covering home plate with dirt after being ejected. Montgomery added his own flare later on by slamming his hat to the ground, tossing his gaiter and heaving a bucket of baseballs onto the field before storming into the clubhouse.

It wasn’t a happy night for Montgomery, but Dogs manager Butch Hobson has to feel good about the recent turnaround his club has experienced. After losing three games in a row to the Gary SouthShore Railcats over the weekend, the Dogs have responded with dominant wins by five and six runs.

Garrett Christman started Monday’s game and gave up three runs across five innings while allowing five hits, four walks and five strikeouts. Christman had a key strikeout by painting the outside corner in the third inning to escape a bases-loaded jam.

After 1.1 innings of work from Jonathon Crawford, Juan Echevarria tossed 2.2 shutout frames with four strikeouts to keep Sioux City at bay. With this win, the Dogs move to 12-8 and sit a half game back from the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in the American Association North Division.

Next up is game two versus Sioux City on June 8 at 7:05 p.m. when Dogs starter Michael Bowden takes on Brett Adcock, looking to extend the Dogs win streak to three games.

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