Milkmen, Monarchs Draw First Blood, RailCats Rally
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, there were six games schedule on Tuesday including a battle of the top two teams in both the East and West Divisions as the Milwaukee Milkmen and Kansas City Monarchs both win in extra innings and the Lincoln Saltdogs hold off the Lake Country DockHounds
Game Recaps for Tuesday
Milkmen Edge Railroaders in 10
The Milwaukee Milkmen scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to defeat the Cleburne Railroaders in the first contest of their six-game set, 5-3. That made a winner of Nate Hadley, who tossed two scoreless innings. Joe Corbett took the loss.
Milwaukee jumped out to a three-run lead, scoring single runs in the first, third, and fourth innings. Justin Williams plated the first run of the game with a fielder’s choice and Williams extended the lead to two in the third with an RBI single. In the fourth, the Milkmen were back on the board when Bryan Torres singled home Reggie Pruitt, but Cleburne responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Hill Alexander. The Railroaders cut the deficit in half in the sixth on Alexander’s second sac fly of the game and tied the score in the seventh on an RBI single by Delino DeShields.
That sent the game to the 1oth where Milwaukee earned the win. It was Miguel Gomez who was the hero, drilling a two-run home run, his fourth of the year. Torres, Gabriel Cancel, and Williams each had two hits for the Milkmen. DeShields had two hits and Zach Nehrir scored twice for Cleburne.
Saltdogs Hold off DockHounds
The Lincoln Saltdogs jumped out to a three-run lead, then held off the Lake Country DockHounds, 4-3. The victory was the fourth straight for Lincoln, who has won three of those games by a single run. John Bezdicek earned the victory, allowing two runs in six innings. Steffon Moore earned his second save of the season. Marcus Shawaryn pitched well but took the loss, allowing three earned runs in seven innings.
The Saltdogs scored a run in the first and added two more in the third when Nick Anderson hit a two-run homer, his 10th of the year. The teams exchanged runs in the fourth, but Lake Country began to gain some momentum. Omar Meregildo led off the fifth with a homer and cut the deficit to one on a single by Brian Rey in the ninth. The DockHounds had the bases loaded, but Moore struck out the final two batters to end the game.
Anderson went 2-3 with a run and three RBI for Lincoln, Rey had two hits for Lake Country. The victory moved the Monarchs a half-game ahead of the RedHawks.
Monarchs Down RedHawks in 10
It was a battle of the top two teams in the West, but the leader changed hands as the Kansas City Monarchs downed the Fargo-Moorehead RedHawks in 10, 3-2. L.J. Hatch the hero, singling the winning run home.
Kansas City took the lead in the first on an RBI single by Chris Herrmann. Fargo-Moorhead took the lead in the third when Evan Alexander drilled a two-run homer, his fourth of the year. In the sixth, Jan Hernandez drilled a solo homer knotting the game at two. That forced extra innings where Hatch drove home the winning run.
Both pitching staffs were very good. Zach Matson started for Kansas City and allowed two runs in five innings. Jordan Martinson tossed three scoreless frames and Grant Gavin tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win. Correlle Prime had his third straight outstanding outing, allowing two runs in six innings. Tanner Riley took the loss.
RailCats Rally to Down Explorers
The Gary SouthShore RailCats found themselves trailing by two with three innings left, but scored a single run in each of the final three frames to defeat the Sioux City Explorers, 5-4. The RailCats scored single runs in five frames and held a two-run lead heading into the fifth, but the Explorers took the lead, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth. However, the Sioux City bullpen could not hold the lead as the team lost their fourth one-run game in the last six contests.
A run scoring double by Thomas Greely in the second made it 1-0 and Gary SouthShore extended the lead to two an inning later on the fourth homer of the year by Jesus Marriaga. In the fifth, the Explorers rallied for four runs on six hits to take the lead. Five of the hits came with two down. A double by Tyler Rando cut the deficit to one and he scored on a single by Jake Ortega. Daniel Perez followed with a double into right and Wilfredo Gimenez put his team on top by two with a single into left.
The RailCats were down but Daniel Lingua made it 4-3 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and LG Castillo tied the score with a run-scoring double in the eighth. In the ninth, Francisco Del Valle singled home Lingua with the winning run. That made a winner of DJ Wilkinson while Nate Gercken took the loss.
American Association Daily Notes
This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report named their weekly award winners on Monday. Milwaukee Milkmen infielder Bryan Torres was named as the Player of the Week for Week 5 after hitting .526. Kansas City Monarchs right-hander Jalen Miller was selected as the Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 and tossing 12 shutout innings. The American Association also selected Torres and Miller as their winners… The contract of Cleburne Railroaders RHP Michael Mariot was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday. He is the fifth player this season to be transferred to an affiliate club.
Winnipeg Rallies to Win Great Pitchers’ Duel
It took seven innings for either team to finally score, but the Winnipeg Goldeyes put up two runs in each of the final three innings to defeat the Sioux Falls Canaries, 6-2 Chris Hardin and RJ Martinez were both dominating, as Martinez tossed five scoreless frames and Hardin six, but the Goldeyes finally broke through in the seventh.
Andy Armstrong led off with a double and scored when Jacob Bockelie hit his fourth home run of the year. An inning later, Armstrong laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score Keith Torres and Bockelie drove home his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly. The Canaries responded in the bottom half, scoring two runs to cut the deficit in half, but Winnipeg sealed the victory with two more runs in the ninth.
Chas Cywin earned the victory, tossing two scoreless innings of relief and Samuel Adames came on to earn his fourth save. Heidekel Gonzalez had two hits for the Goldeyes and Shamoy Christopher had two hits for the Canaries.
Muir Muzzles to Keep Dogs Whimpering
Westin Muir allowed just one run in six innings as the Kane County Cougars defeated the Chicago Dogs, 7-1. Muir allowed one run off six hits while striking out six. The loss was the 10th straight for the Dogs.
Kane County took the lead in the second as Gio Brusa led off with a solo homer and Armond Upshaw added an RBI single. The teams exchanged runs in the third, but the Cougars blew this game open in the fourth, scoring four runs off just two hits. The Dogs made four errors in the inning.
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – RJ Martinez (Winnipeg Goldeyes) 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
No. 2 – Wilfredo Gimenez (Sioux City Explorers) 3-3, RBI, BB
No. 1 – Westin Muir (Kane County Cougars) 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, ER, 6 K
American Association Daily Notes
Winnipeg Goldeyes 3B Dayson Croes extended his hitting streak to 25 straight games. That is the longest in the American Association this season… The Sioux City Explorers are 4-9 in one-run games… The Chicago Dogs have lost 10 straight games. The Dogs made five errors in the loss on Tuesday, the most in any game this season… Kane County Cougars right-hander Westin Muir is now a perfect 9-0 in his professional career.
Transactions
Fargo-Moorhead: Released RHP Bryant Salgado and RHP John Witkowski
Gary SouthShore: Released C Marco Hernandez; Signed C Paul Mondesi
Lincoln: Released C Adam Donachie
Sioux Falls: Traded C Marshall Rich to Lancaster (Atlantic League) for a player to be named later; Released RHP Tony Lanier, LHP Jerryell Rivera and RHP Colby Wyatt
American Association Stories at Minor League Sports Report
TWITA: Milwaukee Milkmen Infielder Bryan Torres
Milwaukee Milkmen IF Bryan Torres Named American Association Player of the Week
Kansas City Monarchs RHP Jalen Miller Named American Association Pitcher of the Week
By Robert Pannier
