WINNIPEG, Man.—The Sioux City Explorers (62-36) shook off the rust and roared past the Winnipeg Goldeyes (41-56) with a commanding 7-3 win that felt like a reset button. With sharp execution and renewed swagger, the X’s reminded Winnipeg, and the rest of the league, why they sit near the top.
After a poor offensive night for the X’s, Henry George set the tone early against Luke Boyd (5-10). The South Dakota State alum blasted his ninth home run of the season, just clearing the wall in right field to put Sioux City in front 1-0. Nathan Rose pushed the lead to 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
J.D. Scholten (1-1) dominated through four innings. The 45-year-old right-hander held the Goldeyes off the board and executed two spectacular defensive plays to help his club.
The X’s tacked on another run in the top of the fifth, but Winnipeg got to Scholten in the bottom of the frame when Ray-Patrick Didder stepped to the dish. The shortstop clobbered a two-run home run to pull the Goldeyes within a run.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, Winnipeg manager Logan Watkins removed Boyd in favor of rookie right-hander Levi Abbott to face D’Shawn Knowles. Abbott walked in a run, and Josh Day reached on an infield single, giving the X’s a 5-2 lead.
Jaren Jackson took over for Scholten in the sixth and gave up a leadoff double, but that was the only hit he allowed. The left-hander out of the University of New Mexico rattled off two scoreless innings.
Day made it a 6-2 game with an RBI single in the eighth inning to bring Knowles all the way around from first base. Two batters later, Zac Vooletich singled through the right side to plate another
Jackson allowed a run in the eighth, but nothing more came of it. He held off the Winnipeg offense in the ninth to secure the victory and even the series at a game apiece.
The Explorers will face the Goldeyes in game three of the four game series Sunday August 31 at Blue Cross Park in Winnipeg. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The game can be heard on radio at KSCJ 94.9 FM and 1360 AM and the video stream will air on aabaseball.tv.
Playoff tickets for home playoff game number one scheduled for Friday September 5 are on sale now at the Lewis and Clark Box Office or online at xsbaseball.com. For more information, please call the Explorers’ front office at 712-277-WINS. Stay tuned to the Explorers’ social media channels and the club’s website, xsbaseball.com, for all our news and updates.
Notes from the Booth with DV:
-Jaren Jackson picked up his first save of his career.
-J.D. Scholten won career game number 19 for Sioux City and tied him for fourth all time in club history.
-Sioux City got their league leading 43rd sacrifice.
-Henry George needs two hits for 100 this season and Josh Day needs three.
-The X’s are 10-9 on Saturday.
-Sioux City leads the season series 6-5.
-Michael Quiñones is on a nine-game hitting streak the longest active for the team and has three games with three hits his last four.
-Sioux City will play game one of the playoffs next Wednesday September 3 at a site to be determined. The team will play game two and game three (if necessary) on September 5 and 6.
