High Five, F-M Wins Fifth Straight 8-5 over Gary
Published on August 22, 2015 under American Association (AA)
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks News Release
FARGO, ND - Powered by a big third inning, the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks held off the pesky Gary Southshore RailCats for their fifth straight win 8-5 with the 11th sellout crowd of the season, 4,888 strong, looking on at Newman Outdoor Field.
The RailCats jumped on the board early. Jon Jones led off with a double to right and would be advanced on a sac bunt from Brennan Metzger followed by a sac fly from Adam Taylor to make it 1-0.
A.J. Quintero was making his first professional start for Gary after having been utilized as a reliever for his entire career. The right-hander looked good early on as he struck out the side in the first inning, but Fargo-Moorhead's hot bats were not silenced long.
The RedHawks would even the score in the second inning on Joe Dunigan's 11th homer of the season, a solo shot that drifted out to right and landed just beyond the fence feet from the foul pole making it 1-1. With the hit, Dunigan tied a RedHawks season high for consecutive games with a hit, as his streak now stands at 12 games.
Michael Wing led off the second with a double pulled down the left field line and Ryan Pineda would reach on a hit-by-pitch and a walk, respectively. Drew Muren stepped to the plate next and laced a line drive off the glove of first basemen Spencer Mahoney that would roll into right field scoring two. Chad Mozingo and Joe Bonfe then grounded out back-to-back, but both drove in a run and the 'Hawks had grabbed a 5-1 lead after three innings.
RedHawks starter Taylor Stanton appeared comfortable with a lead but found himself in and out of jams all night. In the first he left the bases loaded. In the third he stranded Elbert Devarie 90 feet from home. In the fourth a pair of lead off walk followed by a single would cause trouble. With runners on first and second, Stanton struck out Jones for the first out but Jarred Mederos and Devarie successfully completed the double steal. Metzger would drive in Mederos and Devarie would score on a wild pitch making it 5-3 heading to the bottom of the fourth.
After a leadoff single from Luke Bailey up the middle the struggling Michael Wing stepped to the plate. Wing, whose bat has come alive as of late, belted a line drive home run to left making it 7-3 RedHawks. After the game, Wing acknowledged his struggles at the plate saying, "It's hard to get yourself going when you are struggling. I've kinda stepped back and just enjoyed the game. Just know I've probably got 100 at-bats left this season and I'm trying to make them count." Wing, who came into tonight's game batting .152 in his last ten games, certainly made his at-bats count tonight, going 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and another pair driven in.
Gary would get to Stanton one more time in the sixth inning, forcing his exit from the contest. Mahoney led off the frame with a single followed by Devarie singling two batters later. They would both score on single from Adam Taylor laced past the ear of Stanton making it 7-5. Stanton went 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with five walks and five strikeouts.
Fargo-Moorhead would score an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Luke Bailey would single to start and be brought home three batters later by Ryan Pineda making it 8-5.
Top of the ninth in a three run game, Manager Doug Simunic went with big right-hander Mike Nesseth. He forced three consecutive ground ball outs to retire the side and seal the win while earning his 15th save of the season. Nesseth has earned the save in three straight games and is now 6th in the league in the category, impressive considering he did not joined the team until mid-June.
Taylor Stanton (4-4) earns the win while Quintero (1-2) takes the loss in his rotation debut going 4 innings giving up seven runs on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
Fargo-Moorhead improves to 34-50 and has now emerged victorious five games in a row, the longest such streak of the season. The club is the hottest team in the American Association, having won eight of their last ten and 11 of their last 13. Gary Southsore, also on a hot stretch of having won seven of their last ten coming into tonight, slips to 40-44 with the loss. Each game becomes more important for the RailCats, as they now drop to five games behind Laredo in the wild card chase.
Game two is set for tomorrow night at 6 p.m. as American Association strikeout leader Brandon Mann (5-8, 4.22 ERA) is handed the ball countered by Rene Solis (3-6, 4.50 ERA) Gates open at five and pre-game on 740 AM The Fan starts twenty minutes before the hour with Scott Miller on the call.
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- High Five, F-M Wins Fifth Straight 8-5 over Gary - Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
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