So Close, But Fish Fall Short
July 26, 2013 - American Association (AA) - Winnipeg Goldeyes News Release
You have to give the Winnipeg Goldeyes a little credit. They made Friday night's 6-4 loss to the Trois Rivieres Aigles very exciting in the ninth inning.
Trailing 6-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Goldeyes scored three times and had the bases loaded with one out before Trois Rivieres reliever Nick Sarianides struck out Ryan Scoma and Casey Haerther to end it.
It was a terrific finish to a horrible start. Goldeyes starter Justin Garcia lasted only 3 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits as the Goldeyes fell behind early and never recovered. Winnipeg managed only one run on five hits through the first eight innings, as they struggled right up until the final inning in front of 4,889 paying customers at Shaw Park.
With the loss, the Goldeyes fell to 31-32 on the season, 2-2 in the first four games of this 11-game homestand and remained in third place in the American Association's North Division.
"Justin (Garcia) didn't have command of his fastball tonight and when you don't have command of your primary stuff it makes it pretty hard to have command of your secondary stuff," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney. "But Gabe Aguilar and Kaohi Downing pitched real well for us out of the bullpen. We got 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief from our bullpen tonight so give those guys some credit. They did a real nice job for us and kept us in the ball game."
The Goldeyes opened the scoring as leadoff man Tyler Graham beat out an infield single, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on a single by Ray Sadler.
Winnipeg then scored three times in the ninth. Josh Mazzola led off with a single and scored on a double by Luis Alen. Amos Ramon singled to put runners on the corners and then Tyler Graham singled to drive home Alen. Kevin Moesquit was safe on an error by Aigles second baseman Richard Arias and then Ray Sadler singled in Ramon.
But that was all the excitement the Fish could muster. With the bases loaded and only one out, Sarianides struck out Scoma and Haerther and that did it.
Burkard (2-1, 2.35 ERA) got the win for Trois Rivieres, while Garcia (5-4, 5.33 ERA) suffered the loss for Winnipeg. The best player on the field for Winnipeg was reliever Gabe Aguilar who replaced Garcia in the fourth and pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He, at least, gave the Goldeyes a chance to mount a comeback and lowered his ERA to 3.29. Downing pitched a scoreless ninth and lowered his ERA to 2.81.
The Goldeyes and les Aigles will meet in Game 2 of this four game series on Saturday night, 6:00 p.m. at Shaw Park.
Tickets for all Goldeyes games are available through Ticketmaster by calling 1-855-GOLDEYE, clicking on Ticketmaster.ca or visiting any Ticketmaster location, including the Shaw Park box office.
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