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 six games in the American Association on Friday, including Max Murphy homering twice for the Winnipeg Goldeyes, four Milwaukee Milkmen pitchers combined to blank the Sioux City Explorers, and the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks defeated the Kansas City Monarchs. This and much more.

Murphy Powers Goldeyes Victory over RailCats

Max Murphy hit two homeruns and drove in five to lead the Winnipeg Goldeyes to a 9-4 victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats. The two homers tie Murphy for the league lead in homeruns with 22.

The RailCats got off to a great start, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. However, the Goldeyes responded with six unanswered runs, scoring two in the second, solo runs in the third and fourth, and two in the fifth. Murphy led off the second with his first homer of the day, and Justin Thompson pulled his team within one with a sacrifice fly. An inning later, Murphy doubled home Raul Navarro to tie the score. In the fourth, Deon Stafford put the Goldeyes on top with an RBI single and David Washington hit a two-run homer in the top of the fifth to make it 6-3.

The RailCats cut the deficit to two with a run in the seventh, but Murphy put this game away in the top of the ninth, drilling a three-run homer. Murphy finished 3-5 with two runs and five RBI. Washington had two hits, scored two runs, and drove in two. Jhon Vargas earned the victory, tossing two scoreless innings of relief. John Sheaks took the loss

Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Steve Schuster

Gary SouthShore RailCats Recap by Ryan Zimmerman

Boxscore

RedHawks Bullpen Leads Way to Victory

The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks bullpen delivered a huge performance on Saturday, allowing one unearned run in 8.0 innings to defeat the Kansas City Monarchs, 4-2. The Monarchs took a 1-0 lead, scoring a run in the top of the first on a wild pitch by Tanner Riley, who was making an opener for the team.

That lead held for three innings until Fargo-Moorhead scored two in the bottom of the fourth. Kansas City tied the score in the top of the fifth, but it was all RedHawks from there. An error gave Fargo-Moorhead the lead in the seventh and they added an RBI double by Sam Dexter in the eighth.

Jon Jones earned the victory, tossing three scoreless innings of relief. Alex DuBord came on in the ninth to close out the contest for his 17th save of the season. Dexter had three hits and drove in two. Casey Gillaspie had two hits for the Monarchs.

Kansas City Monarchs Recap by Caleb Grizzle

Boxscore

Milkmen Staff Shutout Explorers

Four Milwaukee Milkmen pitchers combined to blank the Sioux City Explorers on Saturday, as Milwaukee earned a 3-0 victory. This was a contest hampered by rain that saw Milwaukee take a 1-0 lead into the fifth before rains led to a nearly 90-minute delay. Mason Davis put his team on top of the sacrifice fly in the second and A.J. Jones looked like he was going to make that hold, allowing two hits through his first 4.1 innings.

However, Jones came out after the rain delay, and Frankie Bartow came on, tossing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. D.J. Sharabi tossed a scoreless eighth and Rodrigo Benoit came on in the ninth to complete the shutout, earning his third save the season. Correlle Prime gave the staff a little breathing room in the fifth, hitting a two run double.

Zach Hedges took the loss, despite allowing just one hit in 4.0 innings. Sebastian Zawada and Gabe Snyder had the only hits for Sioux City.

Sioux City Explorers Recap by Connor Ryan

Boxscore

LaValley Leads Canaries Past Cougars in Slug Fest

Gavin LaValley homered and drove in four to lead the Sioux Falls Canaries to a 10-6 victory over the Kane County Cougars. Sioux Falls took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first only to watch the Cougars score three in third, a run in the fourth, and a run in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead. Cornelius Randolph gave his club the lead with a three-run homer in the third, his ninth of the season. Josh Rolette added a solo homerun to lead off the fourth.

The teams exchanged single runs, but the Canaries exploded for five runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead. LaValley doubled to make it a 6-4 game, and Angelo Altavilla followed with a two run double. Nick Gotta later brought home two more runs to make a 8-6. The Canaries added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth when LaValley hit his 11th homerun of the year.

LaValley finished 3-4 with two runs scored and four RBI. He also had two doubles and a homerun. Zane Gurwitz was 4-5 with three runs scored and an RBI. Stevie Ledesma earned the victory, evening his record at 3-3. Jimmy Kerrigan had two RBI for Kane County.

Saltdogs-DockHounds Delayed

The contest between the Lincoln Saltdogs and Lake Country DockHounds was postponed due to rain. This contest will be made up as part of a double-header on Sunday.

Kinley, Dogs Defeat Railroaders

Jeff Kinley allowed two earned runs in 7.0 innings to lead the Chicago Dogs to a 7-3 victory over the Cleburne Railroaders. Cleburne put up their two runs in the top of the first inning on a ground out by Chase Simpson and an RBI single by Hill Alexander.

Chicago dominated from there, putting up to in the second, three in the fifth, and two more in the eighth. Grant Kay tied the score with his 14th homerun of the season, two-run shot in the bottom of the second. In the fifth, the Dogs took the lead when Ryan Lidge delivered a sacrifice fly. Stevie Wilkerson also had a sacrifice fly in the frame and Michael Crouse scored on a wild pitch. In the eighth, Cleburne cut the deficit to three, but Connor Kopach delivered the final run of the contest with an RBI double in the bottom half of the frame.

Kinley was sharp after giving up to two runs in the first, allowing six hits and two walks to earn his fourth victory of the season. Anfernee Grier and Harrison Smith each had two hits for the Dogs. Chuck Taylor was 3-4 with a run scored for Cleburne.

Boxscore

Three Stars of the Night

No. 3 – Luis Ramirez (Winnipeg Goldeyes) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, ER, 7 K

No. 2 – Grant Kay (Chicago Dogs) 24, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI

No. 1 – Ryan Zimmerman (Milwaukee Milkmen) 6.0 IP, 2 H, BB, 0 ER, 7 K

American Association Daily Notes

Winnipeg Goldeyes OF Max Murphy hit his sixth two-homer game of the season, the most in the American Association this season and a likely league record for the most two-homer games in a season… Cleburne Railroaders IF Kacy Clemens extended his hitting streak to 21 straight games… Chicago Dogs OF Michael Crouse extended his hitting streak to 19 games. Crouse also has an 18-game hitting streak at home, the longest in the American Association this season.

Transactions

Sioux City: Transferred the contract of C Tyler Rando to the Miami Marlins

Sioux Falls: Released C Robert Barham

By Robert Pannier