For the second time in as many games, the Sioux Falls Canaries (43-30) took advantage of a five-run inning to defeat the Winnipeg Goldeyes 6-5 at Blue Cross Park Sunday afternoon.
Sioux Falls trailed 4-1 in the top of the fourth inning when third baseman Ernny Ordoñez came in on left fielder Liam Spence’s sacrifice fly to left field. Then, with two-out, right fielder Wyatt Ulrich sprinted home on a wild pitch to pull the Canaries within one. Two pitches later, designated hitter Jabari Henry hit a three-run home run to left field to give the visitors a 6-4 lead.
Winnipeg (40-34) opened the scoring in the first on a double to right field by centre fielder Miles Simington that drove in left fielder Roby Enríquez.
The Canaries tied the contest at 1-1 in their next at-bat as Ulrich hit a sacrifice fly to centre field that brought in second baseman Trever Achenbach.
The Goldeyes answered right back in the bottom of the second when Enríquez reached on a fielding error, but first baseman Jake McMurray scored on the play. Winnipeg went up 3-1 on second baseman Edwin Arroyo’s sacrifice fly to right field that scored designated hitter Ramón Bramasco.
Winnipeg added another run in the third inning. Right fielder Max Murphy drove in Simington with a single to right.
After Sioux Falls’ big fourth inning, the Goldeyes had their chances to tie it. The best of these was in the sixth when they loaded the bases with none out. Winnipeg managed to pull to within one on Enríquez’s sacrifice fly to centre that drove in McMurray, but the inning ended with the go-ahead run at second base after back-to-back ground outs.
Neil Lang (W, 4-0) allowed five runs – four earned – on seven hits over five innings. Charlie Hasty (S, 13) sent the Goldeyes down in order in the ninth inning.
Landen Bourassa (L, 6-4) gave up six runs on eight hits.
The series concludes Monday with a special 4:00 p.m. CDT start time. Lefty Travis Seabrooke (6-2, 3.17 ERA) will take the mound for Winnipeg while right-hander Seth Miller (6-3, 3.20 ERA) is expected to start for Sioux Falls.