Charle Rosario made his first start for the Winnipeg Goldeyes since being acquired from the RailCats and he was absolutely brilliant, taking a no-hitter into the sixth while keeping the Wichita Wingnuts bats silent. But his removal from the game brought new life to the Wingnuts, who scored three in the eighth to down Winnipeg 3-1. Jordan Cooper won his sixth game of the year, and Ryan Kussmaul came on to close out the contest to move Wichita to 46-29.

Winnipeg took the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Andrew Sohn led off with a double into left field. He moved to third on a ground out and scored when Josh Romanski went the other way with a base hit into left, bringing Sohn home. That gave the Goldeyes the 1-0 lead.

Charle Rosario was absolutely dominating in his first start since joining the Winnipeg Goldeyes. He gave up two walks in the first, then retired the next nine before giving up a two-out walk in the fourth. The left-hander was no-hitting the Wingnuts through the first 5.2-innings and only saw that come to end when Brent Clevlen singled with two-outs in the sixth.

Rosario had allowed just one-hit through 7-innings, but he was replaced in the eighth by Mitchell Lambson and the Wichita Wingnuts pounced right away. Brennen Salgado greeted the reliever with a base hit and Leo Vargas followed by drilling the second pitch he saw for a double into center that brought Salgado all the way around from first to tie the game. Next up was Tyler Sullivan, who singled into left. Vargas came around to score and just like that Rosario’s big appearance was ruined. A double by Christian Stringer brought home Sullivan to make it 3-1.

While Rosario was pitching a gem, so was right-hander Jordan Cooper. The Wingnuts starter allowed that first inning run, and was masterful after that, allowing just 3-hits over his final six-innings of work. Cooper () held the Goldeyes to just 5-hits while not walking a batter, striking out 4 in his 7-innnings of work.

Mike Devine came in to pitch for Wichita in the eighth and retired the Goldeyes in order. In the ninth, the Wingnuts turned to Ryan Kussmaul, looking for his first save of the season after being used almost exclusively as a starter this season. Kussmaul struck out David Rohm on an incredible at bat that saw Rohm foul off six pitches before he finally went down. Romanski flew out and Kussmaul then struck out Reggie Abercrombie to end the game for his first save of the year.

Leo Vargas was 1-3 with a run and an RBI for Wichita. Shawn Pleffner had 2-hits for Winnipeg.

Tim Brown (2-2, 6.66) goes for Wichita in Game 2 tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier