EXPLORERS WIN WILD CARD, MOVE ON TO KANSAS CITY
Ledet and Kuhns Combine for Shutout of Railroaders
Cleburne, TX (September 9, 2021) – The Sioux City Explorers got Incredible performances out of Patrick Ledet and Max Kuhns on the road in a 4-0 shutout victory over the Cleburne Railroaders in the South Division Wild Card Game. With the win, Sioux City now advances to the South Division Championship Series to meet the Kansas City Monarchs in a best of five series.
Patrick Ledet (1-0) pitching on short rest commanded the Railroaders lineup over five innings of shutout baseball. He allowed only three hits while striking out two and not walking a batter. Outside of a lead off single in the first inning by Alay Lago, the Railroaders did not get another base runner on in an inning against the lefty with fewer than two outs in a frame.
Matching Ledet inning for inning was Jesus Sanchez (0-1) who took the tough luck loss in the classic postseason pitchers duel. Sanchez went six innings allowing just a pair of runs on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
Sanchez threw five shutout innings before the Explorers finally got to him in the sixth. It was the usual suspect Jose Sermo who crushed a solo home run to break the scoreless tie making it 1-0 X’s.
Sioux City added a run in the seventh when Sebastian Zawada led off the inning with a double. Chase Harris pinch ran for Zawada and took third on a four pass ball. Lane Milligan then made it a 2-0 game with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Harris.
Holding the 2-0 lead for the X’s was Max Kuhns (1) who turned in an unbelievable performance out of the bullpen. He shut out the Railroaders over four innings striking out three and walking one while allowing just one hit.
Kuhns was able to leave the bases loaded in the sixth to preserve the X’s two run advantage.
Sioux City added major insurance in the ninth when Lane Milligan blasted a two run homer to push the X’s lead to 4-0.
Kuhns set down the Railroaders in the ninth to lock up the save.
Sioux City will have an off day on Thursday before opening up the South Division Championship series against the Kansas City Monarchs, a best of five series that starts on Friday at 7:00 pm.