RailCats, Monarchs Complete Sweeps, Explorers-Cougars Split, Henry Goes Deep
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 seven games in the American Association on Thursday, including the Gary SouthShore RailCats and the Kansas City Monarchs completing sweeps of their series, Jabari Henry hits his league-leading 11th home run for Sioux Falls and the Sioux City Explorers and Kane County Cougars split a double-header. This and much more.
Ulrich Double Propels Canaries
Wyatt Ulrich doubled home two runs with two down in the top of the eighth to lead the Sioux Falls Canaries to a 4-2 victory over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. Sioux Falls had taken the lead in the top of the third when Jabari Henry connected on his league-leading 11th home run of the season, a two-run blast. The RedHawks cut the deficit in half when Drew Ward homered in the bottom half of the frame, and tied the score an inning later on a suicide squeeze by Sam Dexter.
The score remained tied until the eighth when Trey Michalczewski walked with one down and Nick Gotta and Angel Altavilla each drew two-out walks to keep the inning alive. That brought Ulrich to the plate, who drilled a 0-1 pitched from Jon Jones to give Sioux Falls to lead for good.
Colby Wyatt earned the victory and Riley Ferrell came on in the ninth to close out the contest for his third save of the year. Henry finished with three hits. Jones took the loss.
Explorers, Cougars Split Double-Header
Kevin McCanna went the distance for the Sioux City Explorers in the opening contest and Ryan Tapani tossed a complete game shutout for the Kane County Cougars as the teams split a double-header. Sioux City earned the victory in the opener, 9-3, and the Cougars dominated in Game 2, 6-0.
The Explorers jumped out to a huge lead in Game 1, scoring the first nine runs of the game before Kane County was able to get on the board. Nate Samson gave the Explorers the lead with an RBI groundout in the first and Danny Amaral added a two-run single in the second that all that put this game away. In the fifth, Nick Franklin hit his team-leading seventh home run of the season. That was plenty enough support for McCanna, who tossed six shutout innings before the Cougars finally got board in the seventh. Franklin and Amaral each finished with two hits and three RBI. Sherman Johnson hit his third homerun of the season for Kane County, a three-run shot in the seventh.
In Game 2, Tapani dominated, allowing three hits and no walks while striking out nine in tossing the second complete game shutout in the American Association the season. Jimmy Kerrigan gave the Cougars to lead in the bottom of the first, blasting a three-run homer, his sixth of the year. Dylan Busby had four hits.
Sioux City Explorers Recap by Connor Ryan
Burgess Homer Completes Comeback
Chris Burgess homered to lead off the top of the ninth inning to complete an impressive comeback as the Gary SouthShore RailCats defeated the Lake Country DockHounds, 6-5. Lake Country took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Gabriel Noriega drilled a grand slam, his third homerun of the year. Francisco Jimenez held the RailCats off the scoreboard through the first five innings, but Gary finally got on the board in the sixth, cutting the deficit to two. Lake Country extended the lead to three with a run in the bottom half of the frame, but it was all RailCats from there.
Daniel Lingua tied the score in the top of the eighth inning, drilling a three-run homer, his second of the season. In the ninth, Burgess fell behind 0-2 before turning on a Cyrillo Watson pitch for his second homerun of the year.
Aaron Phillips earned the victory, tossing 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. Lingua finished with three RBI and Burgess had two hits. Aaron Takacs had three hits for Lake Country. The victory completed a three-game sweep for Gary SouthShore.
Gary SouthShore RailCats Recap by Ryan Zimmerman
Harris Gem Completes Monarchs Sweep
Jon Harris tossed six shutout innings to lead the Kansas City Monarchs to a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Goldeyes, completing the sweep of their series. Harris allowed three hits and two walks to earn his second victory of the year. Jameson McGrane came on the ninth to close out the contest, earning his fourth save of the year.
Kansas City took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when Matt Adams hit a sacrifice fly that scored Willie Abreu. Two batters later, Jan Hernandez doubled to bring home two more runs. Winnipeg had been unable to generate any offense through the first seven innings, but David Washington pulled the team within a run with a two-run single in the top of the eighth. David Thompson extended the lead with his 10th homerun of the season in the bottom half of the frame. That made it 4-2, which would be the final.
Thompson finished 3-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Ian Sagdal and Kevin Lachance each had two hits for Winnipeg.
Winnipeg Goldeyes Recap by Jason Young
Kansas City Monarchs Recap by Caleb Grizzle
Murphy Tames Saltdogs as Chicago Wins Rubber Match
Kyle Murphy allowed one run in 5.2 innings as the Chicago Dogs defeated the Lincoln Saltdogs, 3-1. Lincoln took the lead in the bottom of the third when Eddy Martinez led off the inning with his first home run of the season.
Lincoln starter Elijah Johnson cruised through the first four innings, but Chicago tied the score in the top of the fifth when Michael Crouse singled home Charlie Tilson. In the sixth, Grant Kay led off the frame with his fourth homerun of the year. In the ninth, the Dogs added one more run when Harrison Smith led off with his third homer of the season.
Murphy earned his third victory of the season. Paul Schwendel closed out the ninth for his fifth save. Kay had two hits for Chicago.
Four-Run First Propels Railroaders
The Cleburne Railroaders scored four runs in the first inning on their way to a 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Milkmen. Milwaukee took the lead in the top of the first when an error allowed Chad Sedio to score. However, the Railroaders responded, as Chase Simpson tied the score with a sacrifice fly and Hector Sanchez put his team ahead with an RBI single. An error allowed a third run to score and Cesar Trejo drove home the fourth run of the inning when he drew a bases-loaded walk.
That was plenty enough support for Kody Bullard, who allowed one unearned run in 5.0 innings to earn his second victory of the season. Chuck Taylor had two hits in his debut for Cleburne and Zach Nehrir had two hits and scored two runs.
Bret Helton came on in relief for Milwaukee and was impressive in his debut, allowing one earned run in 5.2 innings. He struck out eight.
Three Stars of the Night
No. 3 – Kevin McCanna (Sioux City Explorers) 7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, BB, 6 K
No. 2 – Jon Harris (Kansas City Monarchs) 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 7 K
No. 1 – Ryan Tapani (Kane County Cougars) 7.0 IP, CG, ShO, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K
American Association Daily Notes
There have been just to complete games in the American Association entering Thursday’s action. However, two were tossed in the double-header between the Sioux City Explorers and the Kane County Cougars. Kevin McCanna went the distance in Game 1 for Sioux City. Ryan Tapani tossed the second complete game shutout in the American Association this season in Game 2… Lake Country DockHounds OF Aaron Takacs, Chicago Dogs OF Charlie Tilson, and Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks OF Drew Ward all extended their consecutive game on base streaks to 24 games… The Sioux City Explorers had won their six straight game in the first game of their double-header on Thursday, but the streak was snapped in Game 2… The Gary SouthShore RailCats have won four straight games.
Transactions
Chicago: Released C Dustin DeMars
Cleburne: Signed OF Chuck Taylor
Fargo-Moorhead: Released OF Darian Sandford; Signed OF Evan Alexander
Lake Country: Activated LHP Kyle Huckaby from the Injured List
Lincoln: Signed RHP Elijah Johnson
By Robert Pannier
