The Gary SouthShore RailCats (14-23) completed a series sweep of the Winnipeg Goldeyes with a 4-1 victory at Blue Cross Park Thursday evening.
Box Score
The RailCats led from wire-to-wire after shortstop Howard Rodríguez hit the first pitch of the ballgame over the left field wall. It was his first professional home run. Four batters later, right fielder LG Castillo made the score 2-0 with a single to right that brought in second baseman Gio Díaz.
There was no further scoring until the top of the seventh inning when Castillo came home on left fielder Nick Penzetta’s two-out single to centre field. Penzetta would later score on Rodríguez’s base hit to centre as Gary SouthShore increased their lead to 4-0.
Winnipeg (19-18) finally got on the board in the bottom of the eighth inning. Left fielder Keshawn Lynch hit a lead off triple to right field and later scored on shortstop Andy Armstrong’s groundout to short.
Chris Erwin (W, 3-2) went six shutout innings for the RailCats, allowing just two hits. He struck out five and walked a pair. Stephen Knapp (S, 1) entered the game with one down in the bottom of the ninth and was credited with the save.
Zac Reininger (L, 3-3) allowed four runs – three earned – on eight hits over 6.2 innings. He fanned five and walked one.
“I thought it was a pretty well thrown game by Zac. He gave up the home run on the first pitch of the game but after that he settled in,” said Winnipeg manager Logan Watkins. “I felt a bit of frustration with our offense and there were a lot of at-bats with some questionable approaches at the plate. That’s going to happen over the course of a season, but I’d like us to find a way to make some adjustments.”
The Goldeyes will conclude the nine-game homestand with a weekend series against the West Division leading Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. Friday’s contest gets underway at 7:00 p.m. CDT with righty Joey Matulovich (5-0, 1.68 ERA) starting for Winnipeg. Southpaw Tyler Grauer (3-2, 3.75 ERA) will take the mound for Fargo-Moorhead.