Dogs, Railroaders Split Double-Header, McCanna Grounds Canaries, RedHawks Rally Late
Featured Image Courtesy of Jennifer Andreachi, Field Dreams Photography
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 seven games in the American Association on Tuesday, including the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks rallying to down the Gary SouthShore RailCats, the Chicago Dogs at the Cleburne railroaders Split double-header, and the Lake Country DockHounds outslug the Milwaukee Milkmen. Plus, Westin Muir and John Silviano receive weekly honors. This, plus much more.
Game Recaps for Monday
Pitching Dominates in Double-Header Split
The Cleburne Railroaders and Chicago Dogs split a double-header on Tuesday, as both teams received dominating pitching performances in their victories. In the opener, Kevin Hilton delivered his fourth straight quality start, tossing a two hit, complete game shutout as the Railroaders defeated the Dogs, 2-0. Hilton walked one while striking out seven.
Cleburne scored both of their runs in the top of the third. Mitch Ghelfi led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on a double by Nick Shumpert. Chuck Taylor followed with a two-run single. Jonathan Tripp took the loss, allowing two runs in four innings.
In the second contest, three Chicago pitchers combined to allow four hits as the Dogs defeated Cleburne, 4-0. Tanner Lawson started for the Dogs, tossing three scoreless innings. Shane Barringer came on in the fourth and tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. Brian Schlitter recorded of the final four outs for his seventh save of the season.
Chicago broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning, as K. C. Hobson drilled his 13th homerun of the season. An inning later, Connor Kopach hit a two-run shot, his 11th of the year. Kevin McCarthy took the loss.
Saltdogs Rally to Down Cougars
The Lincoln Saltdogs erased a three-run deficit, scoring three in the sixth and four in the eighth to defeat the Kane County Cougars, 7-3. Kane County got rolling early against Saltdogs starter Zach Keenan. The Cougars took the lead in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly by Jimmy Kerrigan and added two more in the third on an RBI single by Cornelius Randolph and a sacrifice fly by Dylan Busby.
Lincoln had been shut down to the first five innings by Cougars starter Vance Worley, who allowed six hits and no runs. However, he came out in the sixth and Lincoln immediately rallied. Hunter Clanin delivered a two-run homer, his 11th of the season, and Rayder Ascanio tied the score with an RBI single. Two innings later, Ascanio put his team on top with his second RBI hit of the day, and Jason Rogers delivered a two-run single to extend the lead to three. Josh Altmann closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly.
The Lincoln bullpen was outstanding in this contest, as six relievers combined to toss five scoreless frames, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six. Jonathan Cheshire earned the victory. Ryan Richardson took the loss. Ascanio had three hits and drove in two for the Saltdogs. Luke Roskam had three hits and scored two runs. Sherman Johnson and Randolph each had three hits for the Cougars.
Lincoln Saltdogs Recap by Michael Dixon
Five-Run Second Propels Goldeyes
The Winnipeg Goldeyes scored five runs in the second inning, helping to propel them past the Kansas City Monarchs, 7-5. Kansas City took the lead in the bottom of the first, but Winnipeg responded with five runs in the top of the second. Kevin Lachance and Raul Navarro each hit two-run homers in the frame and Max Murphy added an RBI single. The teams exchanged runs to make it 6-2, and Kansas City pulled within three when Jacob Robson hit is sixth homerun of the season, a solo shot in the sixth.
In the ninth, Jacob Rhinesmith made it 7-3 with a sacrifice fly. Kansas City rallied in the bottom half of the frame, as Pete Kozma led off with a single and came around to score on an RBI double by Alexis Olmeda. With two on and one down, Darnell Sweeney drove home Olmeda to make it 7-5. However, Tasker Strobel was able to strike out the final two batters to end the contest.
Murphy finished with three hits and drove in two runs for Winnipeg. Mallex Smith was a perfect 4-4 with two runs scored for the Monarchs. Sweeney had two hits and drove in three.
Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Steve Schuster
Kansas City Monarchs Recap by Dan Vaughan, Jr.
RedHawks Rally to Down RailCats
The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks had been held off the scoreboard through the first five innings on Tuesday, but scored a run in the sixth, two in the seventh, and seven in the eighth to earn a 10-6 victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats. The RailCats took the lead in the top of the first on an RBI double by Jesus Marriaga. They extended lead to two when Marriaga drove home his second run of the game in the top of the sixth.
The RedHawks had been shut down by Harrison Francis, but finally got a run in the bottom of the sixth when Manuel Boscan led off with his 15th homerun of the year. That seemed to open the floodgates as the RailCats scored three in the top of the seventh looking like they had taken a commanding lead. Fargo-Moorhead responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame. Gary made it a 6-3 lead in the top of the eighth, but the RedHawks sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, scoring seven runs on five hits. Boscan had a bases clearing double as the big hit of the frame.
Alex DuBord earned the victory while Jack Eisenbarger took the loss. Boscan finished with two hits and four RBI. LG Castillo and Marriaga each had two hits and two RBI for the RailCats.
Gary SouthShore RailCats Recap by Ryan Zimmerman
DockHounds Hold Off Milkmen
The Lake Country DockHounds scored 12 unanswered runs on Tuesday, then held on to earn a 12-9 victory over the Milwaukee Milkmen. Milwaukee took a three-run lead in the top of the first thanks to a two-run homer by Will Kengor and a solo shot by Miguel Gomez.
Things unraveled quickly for Milwaukee, however, as Lake Country scored three in the second and the third innings, then added single runs in the fifth and the sixth and four more in the seventh. Lamar Briggs had a two-run homer in the second and added a two-run single in the third. Effrain Contreras had a two-run single in the seventh.
Carlos Diaz record of the final out of the game for his third save of the season. Nick Herold earned the victory, allowing three runs in six innings. Briggs finished with two hits, scored two runs, and drove in four. Gabriel Noriega and Tristen Carranza each had three hits. Hector Sanchez hit a grand slam in the ninth inning, his 10th homerun of the season. Milwaukee hit four home runs in the game.
McCanna Hurls Explorers to Victory
Kevin McCanna allowed one run in 6.2 innings to lead the Sioux City Explorers to a 6-1 victory over the Sioux Falls Canaries. McCanna allowed three hits and two walks while striking out eight to earn his ninth victory of the season.
Sioux City staked their starter to a six-run lead, scoring three in the second and three in the third. Blake Tiberi had a bases clearing double in the second and a solo homerun by Danry Vasquez and a two-run shot by Ademar Rifaela in the third made it 6-0. Nate Gercken tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless relief and Kevin Lenik finished off the game with a scoreless ninth.
Rifaela had two hits, scored two runs, and drove in two for Sioux City. No one on the Canaries had more than one hit.
Sioux City Explorers Recap by Connor Ryan
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – Lamar Briggs (Lake Country DockHounds) 2-3, 2 R, HR, BB, 4 RBI
No. 2 – Kevin McCanna (Sioux City Explorers) 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, ER, 8 K
No. 1 – Kevin Hilton (Cleburne Railroaders) 7.0 IP, CG, ShO, 2 H, BB, 0 ER, 7 K
American Association Daily Notes
Cleburne Railroaders right-hander Kevin Hilton as now recorded four straight quality starts. Hilton has allowed five earned runs in his last 26.0 innings pitched, giving up 18 hits and six walks while striking out 21… The Winnipeg Goldeyes set a franchise record for homeruns in a season, hitting their 124th on Tuesday. That breaks the mark of 123 set in 1998… Kansas City Monarchs infielder Jacob Robson has homered in three straight games, hitting four in that span.
Transactions
Chicago: Activated INF Stevie Wilkerson from the Injured List
Kansas City: Traded the reversionary rights to OF Wyatt Ulrich to Sioux Falls for future considerations
Lincoln: Released LHP Josh Norwood; Signed RHP Nic Laio
Sioux City: Released OF Sebastian Zawada
Sioux Falls: Placed INF Zane Gurwitz on the Injured List retroactive to August 15
By Robert Pannier
