Goldeyes bats catch fire
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For much of the season, the Winnipeg Goldeyes’ offence simmered in the middle of the American Association rankings. Prior to their most recent road trip, the club was fifth out of 12 teams in batting average and runs scored.
A recent surge has guided the team to its hottest stretch of the year. The Goldeyes have won nine of their last 13 games, capturing four consecutive series in the process. Entering Sunday, the Goldeyes sat just two and a half games behind the Laredo Lemurs in the wild card race. The team is 10 and a half back of St. Paul for the North Division lead, but opens a three-game series against the Saints at Shaw Park tonight. Monday’s battle is the first of 10 head-to-head games remaining between the Goldeyes and Saints.
“They’ve got a great team,” said Goldeyes’ manager Rick Forney. “They’re winning a lot of games, and it’s not by accident. They swing the bat well, the run the bases well, they defend the field. They have some good starting pitching and a couple guys at the back of the bullpen that are really solid. Right now, it’s an important series for us. You don’t really like to pick a date out in July where you’re kind of ‘do or die,’ but for us, it really is do or die in terms of trying to get ourselves back in the divisional race.”
Through their first 46 games of the season, the Goldeyes hit a modest 30 home runs. In their last 10 contests, the Goldeyes have homered 25 times. During that same stretch, the team has scored 93 total runs, including Sunday’s 23-run trouncing of Gary SouthShore.
“Ever since we got out of Gary where you can’t hit home runs, we got to Sioux Falls, and we started to lift the ball a little better,” said Forney. I think the biggest thing is we’re taking pitches early in the count that are kind of borderline. We’re taking those pitches and working the count in our favour, and when you do that, you’re going to get yourself in some good counts to hit in where you can be a little more zone-selective. If someone makes a mistake, and you put a good swing on it when you’re hot, you’re going to be able to lift it and hit it in the gap or over the wall.”
The impact of the home runs has reached new heights as well. 10 of the Goldeyes’ last 25 homers have been either three-run shots or grand slams. Prior to July 7th, the team had three three-run homers all year, and zero grand slams.
The sizzling Goldeyes’ lineup will face a pair of tough challenges during the St. Paul Series in right-handers Robert Coe (Monday) and Mark Hamburger (Wednesday). The duo is a combined 17-1, including a 10-0 mark from Hamburger who reached the Major Leagues with the Texas Rangers in 2011.
Goldeyes hammer RailCats
The Winnipeg Goldeyes hammered six more home runs en route to a 23-4 win over the Gary SouthShore RailCats in the rubber game of a three-game series at Shaw Park on Sunday afternoon.
The team combined for 25 hits in the win, with all 10 position players notching at least one safety.
Adam Heisler jump-started the day with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning. Reggie Abercrombie, Jacob Rogers, and Casio Grider added RBI singles to open a 4-0 lead.
The RailCats battled back in the top of the second with three runs, but after starting pitcher Mikey O’Brien stranded the tying run on second base, Winnipeg’s bats scored 16 unanswered runs.
Abercrombie lined a two-run homer off the scoreboard in right-centre field to re-extend the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the second.
After manufacturing a pair of runs in the third, David Rohm slugged a two-run shot in the fourth as part of a three-run frame.
The Goldeyes made it five consecutive crooked numbers with an eight-run fifth, led by a two-run blast to right-centre from Rogers, and a three-run clout down the right field line from Josh Romanski.
Winnipeg’s final round tripper came in the eighth when Carlton Tanabe hit a two-run shot to left. Tanabe’s parents were in attendance visiting from Hawaii.
O’Brien earned the win, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits over seven innings. O’Brien is now one win shy of 50 as a professional.
WP: O’Brien (6-4)
LP: Oliver (0-1)
SV: n/a
HR: WIN Heisler (6), Abercrombie (11), Rohm (6), Rogers (8), Romanski (6), Tanabe (2)
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