Hedges Shuts Down Saltdogs
Published on July 8, 2021 under American Association (AA)
Sioux City Explorers News Release
Lincoln, NE - Six scoreless innings from Zach Hedges pushed the Sioux City Explorers to a 3-2 victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs.
Hedges (5-2) making his tenth start of the season shut down the Lincoln offense for six innings as he scattered four hits, walking two and tied a season high by striking out five.
He was efficient in his outing as 60 of the 95 pitches he threw were called for strikes. He retired the side in order just once, but no Saltdog made it to third base with fewer than two outs in an inning.
Jose Sermo provided the lion's share of Sioux City's offensive production as he hit a two run home run in the third inning to give Sioux City a 2-0 lead. It was Sermo's 17th of the season and his 52nd as a Sioux City Explorer, putting him five homers shy of tying Nolan Lane's franchise record.
The home run was the lone mistake of the night for Lincoln starter Keenan Bartlett (2-2) as he matched Hedges by tossing six innings. He allowed the two runs on a Sermo dinger while working around eight hits, while walking two and also tying a season high with seven strikeouts.
Sioux City added a run in the seventh when a bases loaded walk made it 3-0. However the opportunity could have yielded better results for the X's as they had bases loaded and no one out but could only muster up the single run. Sioux City went 1-11 with runners in scoring position in the ball game.
A Justin Byrd solo home run gave the Saltdogs a run in the bottom of the seventh. And after a lead off walk to start the eighth, Josh Altmann stole second and scored on a Yanio Perez base hit to trim the X's lead to 3-2.
Matt Pobereyko earned his league leading 14th save of the year in the ninth. Although an error and a walk with two outs in the ninth gave Lincoln the tying run in scoring position with two outs, a ground ball by Forrestt Allday ended the threat and the game.
Sioux City and Lincoln wrap up their season series on Thursday with first pitch set for 7:05 at Haymarket Park, lefty Patrick Ledet (4-1, 5.53) gets the ball for the X's and will be opposed by Saltdogs southpaw Greg Minier (4-0, 3.90).
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