SIOUX CITY, Iowa—The Sioux City Explorers (42-23) erupted late to top the Sioux Falls Canaries (37-27), 9-3, and secure yet another series win at Lewis and Clark Park. With the victory, Sioux City extended its series win streak to eight and continued its push atop the West Division standings.
After rattling off eight runs before the Explorers put anything on the board the previous night, Sioux Falls struck first again, this time in the opening frame. Matt Ruiz singled on the second pitch of the game, headed to second after Jabari Henry walked, stole third on his own and crossed the plate on Josh Rehwaldt’s sacrifice fly to center.
Peniel Otaño and Ryan Zimmerman traded zeros from that point until the bottom of the fourth when Sioux City finally broke through. Osvaldo Tovalin doubled to lead off the frame and eventually came around on Torin Montgomery’s sacrifice fly, tying the game at one.
Otaño stayed on for the fifth inning and retired the first two batters. The Dominican righty walked Joe Vos and yielded a single to Ruiz, placing runners at the corners with two outs.
Manager Steve Montgomery called upon Brett Matthews to douse the fire, but the Colorado State-Pueblo alum walked his first two hitters, forcing in a run, and then Calvin Estrada lined the 0-2 pitch into left field, knocking in another. Matthews struck out Mike Hart to end the frame, but the Canaries carried that 3-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning.
Kurtis Byrne walked to lead off the frame, and Austin Davis singled him to second. The dangerous Henry George stepped to the plate next and rolled over to first base. Instead of taking it to the bag, rookie first baseman Cole Fuecker, playing in his second career professional game, threw to second, and the ball skipped into left field, allowing Byrne to cross the plate and bring Sioux City within one.
Scott Combs then nailed Davis stealing for the second time, a play that forced the umpire crew to eject the furious Steve Montgomery.
The next batter, Zac Vooletich, facing Cole LaLonde (2-3), sent a blistering liner into left for an RBI double, tying the game at three, still with just one out. After walking Tovalin, Sioux Falls manager Mike Meyer had seen enough of the rookie, turning to another first-year hurler, Kody Dalen, who walked Abdiel Layer to load the bases for Torin Montgomery.
Dalen walked Montgomery to give Sioux City the lead, and D’Shawn Knowles added to it with a two-run single to right field, a devastating blow to the Canary bullpen. Sioux City was far from finished, Byrne, batting for the second time in the inning, blasted a three-run homer over the left field wall to officially put the game out of reach, capping off an eight-run eighth.
Chase Jessee (5-1), who struck out four in two innings of relief became the pitcher of record as Felix Cepeda came on to close it out in the ninth inning. With the victory, the Explorers won their eighth consecutive series and the team hasn’t lost back-to-back games since June 21-22 against the Winnipeg Goldeyes.
After the All-Star break, the Sioux City Explorers travel to Indiana to take on the Gary SouthShore RailCats in a four-game set. First pitch on Thursday is at 6:45 p.m. Ticket packages for the 2025 season are on sale now, including Full and Half-Season Tickets as well as 10-, 15-, and 25-game Flex Packs. 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.