.jpg)
The Winnipeg Goldeyes (18-15) won their fourth consecutive series with a 7-1 victory over the Sioux City Explorers at Blue Cross Park Saturday evening.
Joey Matulovich (W, 5-0) was dominant once again, pitching eight shutout innings during which he allowed just four hits and struck out nine batters. He now leads the American Association with 54 strikeouts on the season and his 1.69 earned run average ranks second.
The Goldeyes opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning when right fielder Max Murphy came home on a groundout to shortstop by designated hitter Miles Simington.
In the fourth inning, Winnipeg put five runs on the board to increase their lead to 6-0. First Murphy and Simington crossed the plate on a double by centre fielder Roby Enríquez that bounced over Explorers’ first baseman John Nogowski into right field. Shortstop Andy Armstrong then dropped a single into shallow centre field to score left fielder Keshawn Lynch and Enríquez to make it 5-0, before Armstrong himself touched home on third baseman Dayson Croes’ bloop single to left.
Armstrong knocked in the Goldeyes’ final run in the bottom of the eighth when he won a nine-pitch battle with Sioux City reliver Rayne Supple by driving a single to centre field that brought in Enríquez to make the score 7-0 Winnipeg.
The Explorers (14-18) ended the Goldeyes’ shutout bid with two out in the top of the ninth inning on an infield single by third baseman Osvaldo Martínez that drove in centre fielder Scott Ota. However, Tasker Strobel struck out the next batter, left fielder Zac Vooletich, to end the ballgame.
Starter Austin Drury (L, 1-1) worked five innings for Sioux City. He surrendered six runs – five earned – on eight hits while striking out six.
Murphy’s second inning single extended his hitting streak to 21 games, the longest in the league this year.
“We had great starting pitching again from Joey,” said Goldeyes manager Logan Watkins. “He didn’t feel the best today, but he came out and threw great and we had that one inning where we put up five runs. It’s nice when you get a start like we had today, and you can combine it with some timely offense that gives you a chance to win comfortably.”
Winnipeg will look for their first series sweep of the season Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. CDT when righthander Marshall Kasowski (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his Goldeyes debut. The Explorers will counter with John Sheaks (1-3, 6.21 ERA).
Trevor Curl will have the pregame show on CJNU 93.7 FM and cjnu.ca at 12:30. The game will also be broadcast in French on L’Univers de L’Info with Yanick LaRoche handling the play-by-play. The video stream of all games is available free of charge at AABaseball.TV.
For information about 2024 Season Tickets, Mini Packs, Skysuites, and Group Packages, please visit the team’s official website Goldeyes.com.