7-4 win moves Birds back into First
Published on July 23, 2006 under American Association (AA)
Sioux Falls Canaries News Release
St. Joseph, MO - The Sioux Falls Canaries (9-7) regained a share of first place with a 7-4 win over the St. Joe Blacksnakes (6-11) on Sunday night. The Canaries win, coupled with the St. Paul Saints 3-1 loss to the Lincoln Saltdogs, moves the Birds back into a first place tie with St. Paul in the second half race.
The Canaries got ahead in the first inning. Anthony Monegan led off with a walk and advanced to second base on an infield single by Ralph Santana. Chad Hermansen followed with a single to score Monegan and give the Canaries a 1-0 lead. After Abner Arroyo was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Dennis Anderson hit a sacrifice fly to score Santana for a 2-0 lead.
Chad Hermansen hit a solo home run in the third inning. Hermansen's 13th homer of the season put the Canaries in front, 3-0.
St. Joe got on the board in the fourth inning. Scooter Jordan and Ben Thomas led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Wil Quintana hit a broken bat single to left-center to bring home Jordan. The Canaries were able to stifle the rally when Ralph Santana started a double play on a ground ball off Cody Nowlin's bat. After four innings the Birds held a 3-1 lead over the Blacksnakes.
The Blacksnakes took the lead in the fifth inning. Terrell Merriman led off with a walk and Misha Dworken followed with an infield single. After a wild pitch advanced the runners into scoring position, Denver Kitch brought them home with a triple to tie the game, 3-3. A sacrifice fly by Jimmy Mojica scored Kitch and gave St. Joe the lead 4-3.
The Canaries regained the lead in the sixth. Edgard Clemente led off with a walk and advanced to third base on a single by Dennis Anderson. Clemente scored to tie the game, 4-4, when Chris Hall grounded into a fielder's choice. Hall came around to score on a single by Anthony Monegan and the Canaries took a 5-4 lead.
The Birds added two insurance runs in the ninth. With two outs, Ralph Santana singled and stole second base. Chad Hermansen drove in his third run of the game with a single to score Santana for a 6-4 lead. Abner Arroyo hit his league leading 24th double of the season to score Hermansen for the 7-4 final.
Aaron Garrison (5-4) pitched five innings allowing four runs on six hits for the victory. Matt Petrusek threw three perfect innings and struck out four to turn the lead over to closer Matt Montgomery. Montgomery struck out two and walked one in a hitless ninth inning for his third save of the season. Jesen Merle (3-3) suffered the loss for St. Joe.
Bird Seeds: Edgard Clemente singled in the third inning to extend his current hitting streak to eight games. ... St. Joe has lost six in a row and nine of ten. ... Blacksnakes Manager Chris Carminucci and First Baseman Mark Burke were ejected from the game in the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes.
American Association Stories from July 23, 2006
- Aviators outlast Cats in opener 6-4 - Fort Worth Cats
- American Association Recap - AA
- 7-4 win moves Birds back into First - Sioux Falls Canaries
- Sioux Falls takes opener at Phil Welch - St. Joseph Blacksnakes
- X's take game one from Shreveport - Sioux City Explorers
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