Goldeyes’ bats dormant against Explorers

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This article was published 06/06/2019 (2534 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the home team’s player of the game is a guy who went 1-for-4 with a single, you know it wasn’t a great night at the ballpark.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes were blanked for the first time this season, as the Sioux City Explorers dominated on Thursday night en route to a 5-0 win to avoid a four-game series sweep. It was a missed opportunity for the Goldeyes, as they had a chance to bring out the brooms in a four-game series for the first time since Aug. 4-7, 2016, when they won four in a row on the road against the Gary SouthShore RailCats.

“They’re a good ball club,” shortstop Wes Darvill said, who’s first-inning single was all it took to be named the Goldeyes’ player of the game.

“You saw all those games, they were close. We really wanted the sweep, but that’s a team that fights hard every night. We fought them tough all four games. To get three out of four against them is pretty good. At the end of the day, we’ll take the positives out of that and move on.”

The Fish relied on late-game heroics twice this week, as they walked-off Sioux City in extra innings on Monday with a 7-6 win, and did it again on Wednesday night with an epic two-out rally in the ninth, where they stormed back to score three runs to steal a 3-2 victory.

But their magic ran out on Thursday, as nobody was given a Gatorade shower after the game. But if anyone deserved one of those, it was Sioux City starting pitcher Taylor Jordan, as he tossed a complete game shutout and struck out five batters while holding the Fish to three hits. It was Jordan’s first win of the season, as he entered the game 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA, which is rather surprising considering the fact the 30-year-old has 18 career MLB appearances with the Washington Nationals. Fish starter Kevin McGovern took the loss, as he gave up all five runs on nine hits, while striking out five in seven innings of work to fall to 2-2 on the year.

“I give credit where credit is due, the pitcher did a good job,” Darvill said of Jordan’s performance. “He used all his pitches, kept us off balance, and yeah, I tip my cap to him.”

Thursday night’s loss dropped the Goldeyes’ record to 13-7 on the year, while Sioux City improved to 7-13. The Goldeyes have the best record in the American Association, despite the fact their offence has been struggling lately. The team has an overall .250 batting average and has just two extra base hits in the past two games.

“We’re going to come around,” said Darvill, who leads the team with a .286 batting average. “We’ve all been around a long time. These are all good ballplayers. It’s just one of those things, where you go through a little funk and it happens to be right now for us. But, we’re still winning ball games and that’s what good teams do. They find a way to win. That’s what we’re doing.”

The Explorers broke the game open in the fifth inning, as they hit two doubles, a triple and a home run off of McGovern to plate three runs.

The Goldeyes will look to get a stronger performance from their other southpaw starter tonight, as Mitch Lambson (2-1, 2.88 ERA) will take the mound to open a three-game series against the Cleburne Railroaders at Shaw Park. Cleburne, which is 10-10 this season, will start right-hander Charles Gillies (1-2, 3.32 ERA) in the series opener.

Darvill said it’s important for the Goldeyes to take advantage of their current seven-game homestand.

“It’s huge. You get rest in your own bed and stuff like that,” he said. “We’ll take the positives out of this, we got three out of four, and we’ll see Cleburne tomorrow.”

First pitch is set for 7 p.m.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31