Jackson Strong, Boyer Delivers as Fish Beat Fargo
Published on August 31, 2015 under American Association (AA)
Winnipeg Goldeyes News Release
Sometimes we all forget how simple and exciting baseball can be.
Winnipeg starter Matt Jackson went eight complete innings and Brad Boyer hit a hanging breaking ball for the game-winning single in the ninth as the Goldeyes came from behind to beat the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 3-2 at Shaw Park on Sunday afternoon.
Jackson allowed two runs on six scattered hits and struck out nine through eight complete innings, but when he threw his final pitch, he was trailing 2-1.
To their credit, however, the Goldeyes scored one in the eighth on an RBI single by Reggie Abercrombie and one more in the ninth on Boyer's game winner as the Fish put a halt to a three-game losing streak.
Despite the victory, the Goldeyes were eliminated from the American Association Wild Card race. After the Laredo Lemurs beat Amarillo yesterday, the Fish trailed Laredo by 8 ½ games with eight left to play. Still, the Goldeyes won Sunday's matinee to improve to 43-49 on the season and 18-24 at home. The Goldeyes are now 3-9 in day games this summer.
This will be only the third time in a decade that the Goldeyes have missed the playoffs. They were American Association champions in 2012.
"Let's enjoy these wins when we can," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney philosophically. "You never know when you'll get the next one."
Winnipeg opened the scoring in the third when Casio Grider doubled, stole third and scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Adam Heisler.
Fargo scored one in the fourth off Jackson and added another in the fifth, but in the eighth, Adam Heisler doubled and scored on a two-out single by Abercrombie to tie it.
Then, in the bottom of the ninth, after Brendan Lafferty had pitched a perfect top of the ninth in his 54th appearance of the season, Josh Mazzola led off with a walk, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tillman Pugh, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Boyer.
"He (Fargo reliever Nick Cooney) left a breaking ball up in the zone and I was able to get the barrel of the bat on it," said Boyer. "After he threw me that second strike on a breaking pitch and I swung at it even though it was in the other batter's box, I expected he'd come back with it. This time, he left it up in the zone and I was able to barrel up on it.
"As a ball player, those are the situations you live for. Matt had pitched such a great game for us, I was pretty happy to be able to get the chance to win the ball game for us."
The Goldeyes finished with three runs on seven hits while Fargo had two runs on just six hits. Tillman Pugh had the only multi-hit game for Winnipeg -- a pair of singles and a sacrifice in three official trips.
Lafferty (3-3, 3.06 ERA) got the win for Winnipeg but Jackson was the star, going eight complete and lowering his ERA to 4.76. Cooney (1-2, 4.60 ERA) was tagged with the loss for Fargo.
The Goldeyes and Fargo will play the final game of this four-game series on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. CDT. Outstanding righthander Edwin Carl (5-0, 1.99 ERA) will get the start for Winnipeg while righthander Taylor Stanton (4-4, 4.50 ERA) will head to the mound for Fargo. The game can be heard live on The Jewel 100.5 with Steve Schuster at the microphone. It can also be seen live on Shaw TV Channel 9 in Winnipeg with Scott Taylor, Ken Wiebe and Mike Valente.
Tickets for all of the Goldeyes final eight home games are available through Ticketmaster by clicking on Goldeyes.com, calling 1-855-GOLDEYE or visiting any Ticketmaster location, including the Shaw Park box office.
American Association Stories from August 31, 2015
- 'Hawks Gobble up Fish 9-2 in Win - Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
- Tenbrink Selected League Player of the Week - Kansas City Monarchs
- Tenbrink Named Player of the Week - AA
- Sergey's Dominance Lands Him Pitcher of the Week - AA
- Laredo Lemurs Matt Sergey Named Pitcher of TheWeek - Laredo Lemurs
- Jackson Strong, Boyer Delivers as Fish Beat Fargo - Winnipeg Goldeyes
- American Association Game Recaps - AA
- Wingnuts Drop Final Road Game of Season in 10 Innings - Wichita Wingnuts
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