McGovern Dominates, Bates in Command, Goldeyes 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, Robert Pannier recaps the five games in the American Association on Thursday, including Solomon Bates tossing a gem for the Sioux City Explorers, Winnipeg Goldeyes win in 11, and Kevin McGovern dominates the Lake Country DockHounds.
Game Recaps for Thursday
McGovern, RedHawks Blank DockHounds
Kevin McGovern tossed eight shutout innings and Alex DuBord completed the shutout, as the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks defeated the Lake Country DockHounds, 4-0. McGovern allowed just five hits and a walk while striking out eight. The victory moved the left-hander to a perfect 4-0.
This was a scoreless tie through four as both McGovern and Tyler Pike were pitching well. However, a costly error by Pike in the fifth allowed Fargo-Moorhead to jump out to a three-run lead. Sam Dexter led off with his second homer of the year. Nick Novak then hit a grounder back to Pike, who threw wildly. Alec Olund followed with a double and Novak scored on a B.J. Lopez ground out. With two down, Olund came home on a single by Manuel Boscan. The RedHawks added one more in the seventh on a single by Evan Alexander.
Novak scored twice in the contest and Boscan had two hits and an RBI. Thomas Jones and Blake Tiberi each had two hits for the DockHounds.
Armstrong Walk-Off Hit Propels Goldeyes in 11
Andy Armstrong drove home Brynn Martinez with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Winnipeg Goldeyes a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Dogs. The victory gave Winnipeg a sweep of the three-game set with Chicago.
Chicago took the lead, scoring single runs in the second and sixth innings. Winnipeg battled back to take the lead, scoring three in the bottom of the seventh. Armstrong put his team ahead with an RBI double. The Goldeyes extended their lead to two in the eighth when Martinez drilled his first home run of the season. However, Chicago did not quit, scoring two in the top of the ninth to force extra innings. That is where Armstrong delivered the game-winning single, hitting the second pitch he saw up the middle to deliver the victory.
RJ Martinez earned the win, tossing two scoreless innings of relief. Jonathan Cheshire took the loss. Armstrong and Max Murphy each finished with three hits.
Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Doug Greenwald
Big Inning Propels Milkmen in Rout
The Milwaukee Milkmen scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning in their 10-1 blowout victory over the Kane County Cougars. Gabriel Cancel had four hits and Miguel Gomez and Drew Ward each hit their second home run of the season. Gomez finished with a team-high three RBI.
Milwaukee took the lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Gomez. They held a one run advantage until the fourth when the Milkmen sent 12 men to the plate. With one down, Gomez and Ward hit back-to-back homers. Cam Redding followed with a single, but it looked like the Cougars would get out of the inning without any further damage when Reggie Pruitt flew out for the second out of the inning. However, C.J. Eldred could not find the final out, giving up back-to-back singles before Cam Balego doubled to left. Cancel and Justin Williams followed with back-to-back singles to make it 7-0. Milwaukee added two more in the sixth and a run in the eighth.
That was more than enough support for Frankie Bartow (3-1) tossed six shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out six. Kane County finally scored a run in the ninth when T.J. Bennett hit his fifth homer of the year. Every player in the Milwaukee lineup had at least one hit.
Bates Fans 11 in Explorers Win
Solomon Bates allowed just one run in seven innings, striking out 11 to lead the Sioux City Explorers to a 5-1 victory over the Sioux Falls Canaries. Bates tied a season-high for strikeouts in earning his third victory of the year. Kent Hasler tossed two scoreless innings to finish out the contest.
Sioux Falls took the lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Welington Dotel. That one run advantage held through five, as Mitchell Walters was dominating. However, Sioux City took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, tying the score on a Kyle Kasser sacrifice fly, and jumping out on top when Wilfredo Gimenez followed with an RBI single. A wild pitch brought home the third run of the inning. In the seventh, the Explorers sealed the victory, thanks to an RBI single by Tyler Rando and another wild pitch.
Delvin Zinn, Daniel Perez, and Gimenez each had two hits for Sioux City. Dotel had two hits for Sioux Falls.
Sioux City Explorers Recap by Austin Thomas
RailCats Comeback Falls Short
The Gary SouthShore RailCats rallied for three runs in the bottom of the night to pull within one, but could not find the equalizer as the Cleburne Railroaders earned a 5-4 victory. Riley Smith pitched well for Cleburne, allowing one run in six innings to earn his third victory of the year. Julio Vivas took the loss.
Cleburne took the lead, scoring single runs in the first and third innings. Zach Nehrir delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0, and a sacrifice fly by Brian Klein extended the lead to two. Gary SouthShore got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third, but Cleburne restored the two-run advantage on an RBI double by Mark Karaviotis in the top of the fourth. Cleburne added two more in the top of the eighth, and that proved to be crucial. Nehrir drove home his second run of the game with a single and Guillermo Quintana walked with the bases loaded.
The RailCats refused to go away, however. The team loaded the bases with one down before Jesus Marriaga lined a triple to the wall in center field, cutting the deficit to one. However, Joe Shaw was able to strand the tying run at third, preserving the one run victory.
Gary SouthShore RailCats Recap by Zach Letson
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – Solomon Bates (Sioux City Explorers) 7.0 IP, 4 H ER, BB, 11 K
No. 2 – Frankie Bartow (Milwaukee Milkmen) 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 6 K
No. 1 – Kevin McGovern (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks) 8.0 IP, 5 H, BB, 0 ER, 8 K
American Association Daily Notes
Winnipeg Goldeyes 3B Dayson Croes extended his hitting streak to 21 straight games. That is the longest in the American Association this season… After posting the top record in the American Association in May (13-4), the Chicago Dogs are 1-6 in June… Dogs shortstop Josh Altmann walked three times on Thursday, extending his consecutive on-base streak to 24 straight games.
Transactions
Fargo-Moorhead: Released C Ben Livorsi
Kansas City: Placed OF Jacob Robson on the Inactive List
Sioux Falls: Released LHP Brett Barnett
American Association Stories at Minor League Sports Report
TWITA: Lake Country DockHounds Manager Ken Huckaby
Lincoln Saltdogs OF Nick Anderson Named American Association Player of the Week
Lake Country DockHounds RHP Nick Herold Named American Association Pitcher of the Week
By Robert Pannier
