Canaries Blank Milkmen, Vivas Dominates, RedHawks Avoid Sweep

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, Rob Pannier recaps the six games in the American Association on Sunday, including Julio Vivas winning a pitcher’s duel for the Gary SouthShore RailCats, Mitchell Walters continues to Sioux Falls Canaries winning streak, and the Lake Country DockHounds Rally to Victory.
Game Recaps for Sunday
Walters, Canaries Blank Milkmen
Mitchell Walters tossed six scoreless innings to earn his seventh victory of the season, and the Sioux Falls Canaries bullpen did the rest as the team earned their eighth straight victory, defeating the Milwaukee Milkmen, 6-0. Walters allowed four hits and three walks while striking out eight. Three relievers each tossed a scoreless frame.
This was a scoreless tie between Walters and Milkmen starter Juan Echevarria through the first four innings, but Sioux Falls finally got on the board in the fifth, plating a run on a Logan Eickhoff RBI single. That lead held until the seventh when the Canaries blew this game open, scoring five runs on just two hits. Two walks in a base and a hit by pitch loaded the bases before a balk drove home a run. With two down into one, Jordan Barth doubled to extend the lead to four. A hit by pitch in a single real loaded the bases, and Darnell Sweeney reached on an error that plated two more.
Vivas, RailCats Blank Cougars
Julio Vivas tossed 6.2 scoreless innings and the Gary SouthShore RailCats did the rest, as the team blanked the Kane County Cougars, 1-0. This was a spectacular pitcher’s duel between Nick Belzer and Vivas. Belzer took the loss despite allowing just one run in five innings. Joan Valdez struck out the side in the ninth for his second save of the year.
The only run in this contest came in the second inning. Marcos Gonzalez led off with a double and scored when LG Castillo worked the count full, then singled up the middle. Vivas came out after giving up a two-out walk in the seventh. Aaron Phillips got the final out of the frame. Jack Eisenbarger and Valdez each tossed a scoreless inning.
Gary SouthShore RailCats Recap by Zach Letson
Late Surge Propels RedHawks
The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks clung to a two-run lead through the first five innings, but scored three in the sixth and eighth innings to defeat the Winnipeg Goldeyes, 9-4. Winnipeg was shut down by Kevin McGovern through the first five, as the RedHawks left-hander earned his eighth victory of the season, allowing two runs in six innings.
Fargo-Moorhead took the lead in the top of the third on an RBI double by Scott Schreiber and extended the lead to two when Evan Alexander led off the top of the fourth with his ninth homer of the year. In the sixth, Fargo-Moorhead began to pull away when Dillon Thomas drilled a three-run homer, his sixth of the year. The Goldeyes got two of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning on a two run double by Max Murphy but a two-run home run by Leobaldo Pina in the eighth sealed the victory.
Alexander finished with three hits and two RBI and Sam Dexter scored twice for the RedHawks. Murphy had three hits and two RBI for the Goldeyes.
Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Doug Greenwald
Miller Sharp in Leading Monarchs
Jalen Miller earned his eighth victory of the season, allowing two runs in seven innings to lead the Kansas City Monarchs to a 4-2 victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs. Miller allowed six hits and three walks while striking out three, rebounding beautifully from his worst start of the year. Patrick Weigel came on in the ninth and shut the door for his 10th save of the year.
Lincoln took the lead in the bottom of the second on the fifth home run of the year by Aaron Takacs. Kansas City took the lead in the top of the fourth when Micker Adolfo hit a two-run homer, but Saltdogs tied the score the bottom half of the frame as Takacs drove in his second run of the contest. However, Kansas City retook the lead for good when Allante Hall led off the sixth with his first home run of the season. A double by Chris Herrmann in the seventh closed out the scoring.
Jan Hernandez remained red-hot, recording three hits, and Hall scored two runs. Takacs had two hits and two RBI for the Saltdogs.
Kansas City Monarchs Recap by Carter Woodiel
Lincoln Saltdogs Recap by Michael Dixon
DockHounds Rally in Ninth to Split Series
The Lake Country DockHounds scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat the Cleburne Railroaders, 6-5. That gave Lake Country a split of their six-game series. Matt Mullenbach earned the victory and Jojanse Torres earned his 12th save of the season. Nick Gardewine took the loss.
The DockHounds got on the board first when Bryan Rey singled home a run in the top of the third. Cleburne immediately responded in the bottom half of the frame as Blaze Brothers led off with his third homer of the year and José Sermo added an RBI double. Cleburne extended the lead to three in the sixth as Brian Klein drilled a ball to the wall for a triple, bringing home two more runs. In the eighth, Alex Jackson hit a solo homer, his third of the season, and it looked like this game was all but over.
However, the DockHounds rallied in the ninth. Curtis Terry hit his 13th homer of the year to get things started. Thomas Jones added a two-run shot to knot the game at five and Rey added a solo home run to put his team on top. That ruined a solid performance by Johnathon Tripp, who allowed two earned runs in 6.2 innings in his first start for Cleburne.
Dogs-Explorers Postponed
The contest between the Chicago Dogs in Sioux City Explorers was postponed due to rain. A scheduled date for the makeup contest has not been named.
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – Evan Alexander (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks) 3-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, Double
No. 2 – Mitchell Walters (Sioux Falls Canaries) 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 0 ER, 8 K
No. 1 – Julio Vivas (Gary SouthShore RailCats) 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, BB, 8 K
American Association Daily Notes
The Sioux Falls Canaries won their eighth straight game… Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder Max Murphy drove in two runs on Sunday and is now tied for the American Association lead an RBI with 74. Murphy leads the league in home runs as well.
Transactions
Milwaukee: Signed RHP Kyle Johnson
Winnipeg: Placed RHP Samuel Adames on the Injured List retroactive to August 10; Activated LHP James Palmer from the Injured List
American Association Articles on Minor League Sports Report
TWITA: Lincoln Saltdogs Catcher Luke Roskam
Kansas City Monarchs IF Justin Wylie Named American Association Player of the Week
Kane County Cougars RHP C.J. Eldred Named American Association Pitcher of the Week
By Robert Pannier