Canaries Comeback For Sunday Split
Published on August 16, 2009 under American Association (AA)
Sioux Falls Canaries News Release
Sioux Falls, SD - After losing the resumption of Saturday night's game, 12-6, the Sioux Falls Canaries (14-21) pulled off a marvelous comeback by scoring five runs in their final at-bat for a 5-3 win over the Sioux City Explorers (12-24) in Sunday's regularly scheduled game. J.D. Reininger capped off the comeback with his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to deliver the victory.
The Canaries and Explorers first resumed Saturday night's game, picking it up in the top of the third inning with the Birds leading, 1-0. Sioux City wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard. With two men in scoring position, Greg Stevens singled to drive in Alex Llanos and Justin Nelson for a 2-1 Explorers lead. Jason Colson followed with a two-run homer to make it 4-1 in favor of Sioux City. The Explorers would get three more runs in the inning in building a 7-1 lead.
After the Canaries got one back in the bottom of the third, the Explorers scored once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and once in the sixth to build an 11-2 advantage. Llanos and Colson each hit their sixth home run of the season in the middle innings for the Explorers.
The Birds attempted a comeback in the late innings. In the seventh Joe Anthonsen and Tim Hutting hit back-to-back singles, and Cody Haerther doubled to bring both men in and get the Canaries within seven, 11-4. Haerther then scored on a double Cory Harris, and after seven innings the Canaries trailed, 11-5. Joe Dempsey hit his first career home run in the eighth inning to make it 11-6, but that was as close as the Birds would get in a 12-6 loss to the Explorers.
Tyler Meigs (1-8) picked up the win throwing 4.1 innings of relief. Ben Moore (4-9) gave up 11 runs on 17 hits to suffer the loss. Moore allowed three home runs in the loss, and in the process tied Sioux City Explorers pitching coach Bobby Post for the most home runs allowed by a Canaries pitcher in a single season. Post allowed 22 home runs while pitching for the Canaries back in 1996. Another milestone was also reached in the first game, when Joe Anthonsen went 3-for-5 in the game. Joe' third hit of the contest, an eighth inning single, was his 100th hit of the 2009 season, making him the 18th Canaries player in 17 years to reach that milestone.
Following the completion of Saturday's game, the teams played Sunday's regularly scheduled game. Sunday's game featured a pitcher's duel between Canaries starter Ryan Ford, and Sioux City pitcher Mike Phelps. The game was scoreless into the top of the fourth inning when Justin Nelson hit his ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the Explorers a 2-0 lead.
Phelps was solid for Sioux City. After allowing Trevor Lawhorn to single in the second inning, Phelps sat down 13 batters in a row to keep Sioux City in front, 2-0, going into the seventh inning. In the seventh, Derek Schermerhorn walked, stole second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Boomer Berry. Schermerhorn's insurance run gave the Explorers a 3-0 cushion.
In the bottom of the seventh, Tim Hutting broke up the string of 13 in a row retired with a lead-off walk. After Cody Haerther grounded into a fielder's choice, Beau Torbert drew a walk to put two men on and bring Cory Harris to the plate as the tying run. With Harris coming up, the Explorers made a call to their bullpen to bring in closer Brett Reid. Reid got Harris to fly to centerfield for the second out of the inning, but Lawhorn followed with a double to score Haerther and Torbert, and pull the Canaries with a run, 3-2. Patrick Reilly singled through the right side to bring Lawhorn around from second. Boomer Berry hurled the ball from right-field home to catcher Greg Stevens, but as the ball arrived at the plate, Lawhorn barreled over Stevens to dislodge the ball and score the game tying run. J.D. Reininger followed at the plate, and after Reilly stole second base to get in scoring position, Reininger hit his fifth home run of the season to give the Canaries a 5-3 comeback win over the Explorers.
American Association Stories from August 16, 2009
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- Canaries Comeback For Sunday Split - Sioux Falls Canaries
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