Canaries Rally to Down Milkmen, 7-4
By Adam Bertsch
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The Sioux Falls Canaries used a four-run eighth inning rally to overtake the Milwaukee Milkmen 7-4 in on Tuesday night.
An early lead for the Birds evaporated with four unanswered runs by the Milkmen. A late eighth inning rally for Sioux Falls along with eight innings from Tyler Herron propelled the Canaries over the Milkmen in the series opener.
Both starting pitchers threw their way to a scoreless first two innings before the Canaries struck first in the third.
Grant Kay and Ryan Brett led off that bottom of the third with back-to-back singles. Andrew Ely then hit an RBI single to score Kay. Jabari Henry followed him with an RBI double to score Brett and give the Birds the 2-0 advantage.
Logan Landon added one more in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run to the opposite field on the very first pitch of the inning making the score 3-0 Birds.
Milwaukee cut into their deficit with one run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-1.
The Milkmen took the lead in the top of the sixth with three more runs. Mike Hart dropped a fly ball in right field that allow a run to score and put runners on first and third. The next batter, Christian Correa hit a two-run double to give Milwaukee their first lead of the game.
Both teams fell scoreless in the seventh before the Birds started an eighth inning rally .
Alay Lago reached on a one-out walk; Damek Tomscha and Clint Coulter hit back-to-back singles to load up the bases. Mike Hart then hit an RBI single to score Lago and Tomscha scored on an error by right fielder Zach Nehrir on the same play. Logan Landon then hit a sacrifice fly to score Coulter. Grant Kay followed him by hustling out an infield RBI single to give the Birds a 7-4 lead.
Keaton Steele came on in the ninth and recorded his ninth save of the season, giving the Canaries the victory.
Tyler Herron went eight strong innings allowing just one earned run (three unearned) to collect his third win of the season. Karch Kowalczyk took the loss out of the bullpen for the Milkmen.
UP NEXT
The Milkmen and Canaries meet in game two of the three game set Wednesday, July 29. Grady Wood will take the ball for Sioux Falls with Dylan Baker expected to get the start for Milwaukee. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.