Monarchs Complete Sweep, Culbreth Blanks Saltdogs, RedHawks Outslug DockHounds
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 Thursday, including the Kansas City Monarchs completing their sweep of the Sioux City Explorers, Ty Culbreth tossed a gem for the Sioux Falls Canaries, and Sam Dexter drove in five for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.. This and much more.
Monarchs Complete Sweep of Explorers
The Kansas City Monarchs hit four home runs in a late morning affair on Thursday, defeating the Sioux City Explorers, 8-1. That gave the Monarchs a sweep of the three-game series. Kansas City jumped out in front early in this contest, scoring two in the bottom of the first and a run in the second. Darnell Sweeney and Gabriel Guerrero got things going with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first. In the second, Alexis Olmeda went deep, the third of four homeruns hit by the Monarchs on the day.
Sioux City got one of those runs back in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Trey Martin. However, it was all Kansas City from there. A bases loaded walk to Olmeda extended the lead back to three. In the seventh, David Thompson hit a three-run homer, his 14th of the year. Kevin Santa closed out the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.
Justin Donatella earned the victory with two scoreless innings of relief. Thompson finished 2-3 with three RBI. Olmeda reached base four times in the contest and drove home two runs. Blake Tiberi had two hits for Sioux City.
Sioux City Explorers Recap by Connor Ryan
Kansas City Monarchs Recap by Kaitlyn Saunders
Culbreth Outduels Minier in Canaries Victory
Ty Culbreth tossed 8.0 shutout innings to lead the Sioux Falls Canaries to a 1-0 victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs. Culbreth allowed three hits and no walks while striking out five to outduel Saltdogs starter Greg Minier, who allowed just one run on three hits in 7.0 innings. Riley Ferrell came on in the ninth to close out the contest for his fifth save of the season.
Sioux Falls scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the third inning. With two down, Jabari Henry drilled his 14th homerun of the season. That proved to be all the support that Culbreth needed, as he retired the first nine batters of the game and retired the side in order in six of his eight innings.
The only rally Lincoln was able to muster came in the top of the eighth when Hunter Clanin led off with a single. With two down, Garett Delano single to right to send Clanin to third. However, the left-hander struck out Skyler Weber to end the threat.
Lincoln Saltdogs Recap by Michael Dixon
Murphy, Washington Power Goldeyes Past Railroaders
David Washington and Max Murphy each homered and drove in four as the Winnipeg Goldeyes defeated the Cleburne Railroaders, 9-2. Murphy gave his team the lead in the top of the first when he doubled home Ian Sagdal. Two innings later David Washington turned on a 2-2 pitch, drilling his 10th homerun of the season to extend the lead to four. An inning later, Washington drove home his fourth run of the game with an RBI single and Murphy kept the runs coming home with a three-run blast in the sixth, his 10th of the year.
RJ Martinez rolled for the Goldeyes, allowing two runs in 6.0 innings. Three relievers came on to toss scoreless frames. Murphy and Washington both finished 3-4 with two runs scored and four RBI.
Trevor Simms took the loss for Cleburne, allowing four earned runs in 4.0 innings. Zach Nehrir and Hill Alexander each had two hits and an RBI for the Railroaders.
Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Steve Schuster
Cougars Down RailCats in 10
The Kane County Cougars scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to earn a 3-2 victory over the Gary SouthShore RailCats on Thursday. Kane County took the lead in the top of the third inning when Ernie De La Trinidad doubled home Galli Cribbs. The lead held for just one inning, however, as Michael Cruz hit his first homerun of the season in the bottom of the fourth.
José Fuentes and Harrison Francis were dominant from there. Fuentes allowed one run in 7.0 innings while Francis allowed a single run in 5.2 frames. Jack Anderson and Jack Eisenbarger were spectacular out of the bullpen, with Anderson tossing 2.0 innings of scoreless relief and Eisenbarger throwing 3.1 innings, retiring all 10 batters he faced.
That sent this contest extra innings, where Cribbs gave his team the lead for good. Gary attempted to rally in the bottom half of the frame, but Logan Nissen closed the door for his fifth save of the season. Cribbs finished 2-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Cruz and Jesus Marriaga each had two hits for the RailCats.
Gary SouthShore RailCats Recap by Ryan Zimmerman
Offense Propels RedHawks Past DockHounds
The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks received at least one hit from all nine of their starters and scored in six of the nine frames as they defeated the Lake Country DockHounds, 17-10. Both teams scored three runs in the second inning, but the RedHawks took over from there, adding two in the third, six in the fourth, a run in the fifth, and two more in the sixth to jump out to a 14-5 lead. It was 17-5 before Lake Country was able to out a rally late, scoring two in the eighth and three in the ninth, but it was far too little.
The RedHawks hit six homeruns in the contest. Drew Ward led the way for Fargo, homering twice in the contest as part of a 3-4, three run, four RBI performance. Sam Dexter had a big day as well, going 5-6 with four runs scored and five RBI. He also added his second homerun of the year.
The DockHounds scored 10 runs on just eight hits, taking advantage of eight walks. Lamar Briggs and Daniel Martins-Molinari led the way for Lake Country. Briggs was 2-5 with two RBI. Martins-Molinari also had two hits in the contest, including his first homerun of the season. He drove in two.
Milkmen Overcome Early Deficit to Down Dogs
The Milwaukee Milkmen found themselves trailing 6-0 after one inning on Thursday, but rallied for nine unanswered runs in a 9-7 victory over the Chicago Dogs. Chicago looked like they were going to blow out Milwaukee, sending nine men to the plate to jump out to the six-run lead. Three straight hits helped stake the Dogs to a 3-0 lead, and Connor Kopach added a two-run double.
Milwaukee began to chip away in the top of the second. Will Kengor drilled a two-run homerun, his sixth of the year. An inning later, Mason Davis added an RBI single to cut the deficit to three. In the fifth, Correlle Prime added an RBI double and Aaron Hill made this a one run game in the sixth when he hit his third homerun of the year. In the seventh, the Milkmen completed the comeback with Kengor driving home his third run of the game with a run-scoring double and he came home when Hill doubled into left. Davis gave Milwaukee a three-run advantage, connecting for his fifth homerun of the season, two-run shot in the eighth.
Myles Smith allowed six runs in 6.0 inning, but earned the victory. Karch Kowalczyk closed out the ninth for his seventh save the season. Kengor finished 3-4 with two runs scored and three RBI. Davis had two hits and drove in three and Hill had two hits and drove in a pair. Chicago received two hits from Michael Crouse, K.C. Hobson, Danny Mars, and Kopach.
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – Drew Ward (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks) 3-4, 3 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 4 RBI
No. 2 – Sam Dexter (Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks) 5-6. 4 R, HR, 5 RBI
No. 1 – Ty Culbreth (Sioux Falls Canaries) 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 5 K
American Association Daily Notes
Since sweeping the Kansas City Monarchs at home, the Sioux City Explorers have lost six straight games… Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks IF Sam Dexter set a single game-high, driving in five on Thursday… Milwaukee Milkmen right-hander Myles Smith earned his fifth victory of the season on Thursday, tying him for the league lead… Sioux Falls Canaries OF Wyatt Ulrich saw his 18-game hitting streak come to an end on Tuesday. That is the longest streak in the American Association this year.
Transactions
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By Robert Pannier
