DockHounds, Monarchs Win in Extra-Innings, Lang, Sheaks Dominate
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 great games in the American Association on Sunday, including Sioux City Explorers Manager Steve Montgomery winning his 500th career game, the Chicago Dogs rolled to their ninth straight victory, and both the Kansas City Monarchs and the Lake Country DockHounds win in extra innings.
Game Recaps for Sunday
Monarchs Rally to Take Series Finale
The Kansas City Monarchs rallied in the ninth inning to force extra innings, then earned the victory in the 11th, defeating the Winnipeg Goldeyes, 7-6. Matt Hartman earned the victory, as the Kansas City bullpen was spectacular, allowing a single run in six innings of work. Samuel Adames took the loss.
The Monarchs took the lead right away, scoring three in the top of the first. Travis Seabrooke was shaky early for Winnipeg, throwing two wild pitches in the first that led to two runs. Winnipeg tied the score in the third, but the Monarchs retook the lead in the top of the fourth, scoring a run on an error. This time the Goldeyes responded, scoring two in the bottom of the fourth to take their first lead of the contest.
Kansas City tied the score in the top of the sixth on an RBI double, but Winnipeg retook the lead in the eighth when Tra Holmes doubled home Najee Gaskins. Winnipeg had an opportunity to really blow this game open, loading the bases with two down, but only came away with one run. That proved to be critical as Kansas City tied the score in the ninth on a double by Micker Adolfo. In the 11th, Justin Wylie drove home the winning run with a double.
Adolfo finished with three hits and Jan Hernandez and Wylie each had a pair of hits. Four Goldeyes players had two hits in the contest, including Dayson Croes, who raised his average to .360.
Kansas City Monarchs Recap by Carter Woodiel
Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Doug Greenwald
Lang, Canaries Shut Down Saltdogs
Neil Lang tossed 6.1 innings of scoreless 6.1 scoreless innings and the bullpen did the rest as the Sioux Falls Canaries defeated the Lincoln Saltdogs, 6-0. Lang allowed eight hits and a walk while striking out three to earn his fifth victory of the year. Abdallah Aris did not survive the fourth inning, as the Lincoln starter went through a nightmarish frame that ended this afternoon early.
Sioux Falls took a one run lead in the first, then blew this game open in the fourth. Back-to-back walks started the frame before Darnell Sweeney tripled, bringing home two more runs. Aris came out, and Trevor Achenbach greeted Walter Borkovich with an RBI single that extended the lead to four. In the seventh, Sioux Falls extended the lead to six thanks to a two-run homer off the bat of Aaron Whitefield.
Lang came out of the seventh and Christian Johnson was able to retire the final two batters the inning. Cole LaLonde tossed a scoreless eighth and José Cruz loaded the bases in the ninth before getting out of the inning unscathed. Sweeney had two hits and two RBI for Sioux Falls. Four batters had two hits for the Saltdogs, but Lincoln left 12 men on base.
Lincoln Saltdogs Recap by Michael Dixon
Sioux Falls Canaries Recap by Tanner Hoops
Dogs Complete Sweep of RailCats
The Chicago Dogs completed a sweep of the Gary SouthShore RailCats, winning Sunday afternoon’s contest, 8-5. Ben Livorsi hit his seventh homer of the year and Chicago took advantage of two errors and three wild pitches by the RailCats.
The Dogs took command of this game from the start, scoring three in the first and a run in the second. A single and an error made it 2-0 and Matt Bottcher came home on a wild pitch. In the second, Livorsi came home on an error. The Gary SouthShore offense was shut down through the first four innings, but finally got on the board in the fifth when Francisco Del Valle hit a solo home run, his ninth of the year. Chicago got that run back in the next half inning on a Livorsi solo shot, then added three more in the eighth. The RailCats rallied in the ninth, scoring four runs to make this a three-run game. Gary had the tying run on-deck but Joe Cavallaro got the final out to end the game.
Gary SouthShore RailCats Recap by Zach Letson
DockHounds Defeat Milkmen in 10
The Lake Country DockHounds rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat the Milwaukee Milkmen, 9-8. Blake Tiberi delivered the game-winning hit as part of a two-hit, two RBI performance. Dustin Woodcock and Juan Graterol each had two hits and scored three runs for the DockHounds. Michael Crouse drove in three for Milwaukee.
The teams both scored two runs in the second inning. Crouse hit a two-run homer in the top half of the frame, his sixth of the season, and Thomas Jones delivered a two run double in the bottom half. An inning later, the Milkmen retook the lead, but Lake Country jumped out in front in the bottom of the fourth when Woodcock hit a two-run homer, his eighth of year. The DockHounds extended their lead to two on an RBI single by Tiberi in the sixth, but the contest got quite wild over the final four frames.
In the seventh, Milwaukee tied the score only to see Lake Country retake the advantage when Marek Chlup led off the bottom of the seventh with his eighth homer of the year. In the eighth, the Milkmen retook the lead, but Justin Lavey tied the score in the bottom half of the inning. In the top of the 10th, Milwaukee took the lead for the fourth time in the contest and, for the fourth time in the contest, Lake Country responded. After Jaxx Groshans tied the score, Tiberi delivered the game-winner.
Explorers Hang on to Edge RedHawks
The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning, but could not overcome the deficit as they fell to the Sioux City Explorers, 3-2. John Sheaks was spectacular in his first start for Sioux City, tossing eight shutout innings to earn his first win since being acquired from the Gary SouthShore RailCats. Sean Rackoski gave up two runs in the ninth but still earned his 18th save of the year. Tyler Grauer was the hard luck loser, giving up two runs in seven innings.
Wilfredo Gimenez gave his team the lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single. Two innings later, Gimenez hit a solo home run, his seventh of the year. It looked like the Explorers had sealed the victory in the eighth when Matt Lloyd came home on a wild pitch, but the RedHawks refused to go away. In the top of the night, Sheaks came out and Fargo-Moorhead put 21 with two outs. A wild pitch pulled the team within one and Sam Dexter followed with a double, but they would get no closer.
Sioux City Explorers Recap by Dan Vaughan, Jr.
Railroaders Edge Cougars in Finale
Ryan Hernandez drove home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh-inning to give the Cleburne Railroaders a 6-5 victory over the Kane County Cougars. That spoiled an impressive five run come back by Kane County. Austin Fairchild earned the victory and Joe Corbett struck out two in the ninth for his second save of the season.
Cleburne took control of this game early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Those runs came courtesy of three homers, as Bret Boswell and Hernandez hit solo shots and José Sermo added a two-run blast, his 24th of the year. In the third, Cleburne added a fifth run and it looked like this game was all but over. However, Kane County refused to go away. In the fifth, John Cristino hit a two-run homer, his first of the year. In the sixth, the Cougars tied the score. Cristino drew a bases loaded walk to drive home a run and Michael Woodworth followed with a two-run double.
Fairchild came on and got the final out of the inning, and the Railroaders bullpen took over from there, keeping Kane County off the scoreboard over the final 3.1 innings. Sermo and Hill Alexander each scored two runs.
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – Neil Lang (Sioux Falls Canaries) 6.1 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, BB, 3 K
No. 2 – Dustin Woodcock (Lake Country DockHounds) 2-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB, HR
No. 1 – John Sheaks (Sioux City Explorers) 8.0 IP, 5 H, BB, 0 ER, 2 K
American Association Daily Notes
Sioux City Explorers Manager Steve Montgomery earned his 500th victory on Sunday. He is the winningest manager in club history… The Chicago Dogs won their ninth straight game on Sunday… The magic number for the Gary SouthShore RailCats to be eliminated from the playoff race is one.
Transactions
Milwaukee: Activated RHP Francys Peguero from the Inactive List
Sioux City: Placed RHP Heitor Tokar on the Injured List retroactive to August 23; Activated RHP Trenton Toplikar from the Inactive List
American Association Articles on Minor League Sports Report
Sioux Falls Canaries RHP Seth Miller American Association Pitcher of the Week
Sioux Falls Canaries 1B Mike Hart Named American Association Player of the Week
By Robert Pannier
