SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS PRESS RELEASE
Phone: 817.739.3693
Website: xsbaseball.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14, 2023
By Austin Thomas
GARY CONTINUES X’S SLIDE
SIOUX CITY DROPS FIFTH STRAIGHT
SIOUX CITY, IA – The Sioux City Explorers (13-17) couldn’t claw back late against the Gary SouthShore RailCats (14-17) despite a good fight and lost 9-6. Following the loss, the X’s are now on a five-game losing streak, their longest of the season. The RailCats moved to half a game back of the Kane County Cougars in the East Division with a possibility to pass them up next game.
Solomon Bates (3-3) started out dealing for the X’s, carrying a perfect game into the fourth inning. The Explorers jumped ahead early, scoring two in the first. With two outs, following a Jake Ortega hit by pitch and a Tyler Rando single, Daniel Perez grabbed an RBI single off Gary starter Julio Vivas (3-2) to make it 1-0 Sioux City. Wilfredo Gimenez scored a run for the Explorers, hitting another single and sending home Rando to make it 2-0.
The next run would come in the fourth as Jesus Marriaga helped the RailCats scratch back to a tie game with a two-RBI double to make it 2-2. The Cats’ LG Castillo grabbed the lead with an RBI single before Will Decker added a sac fly that scored LG Castillo to extend the RailCats lead to 4-2.
Sioux City’s Jack Kelly threatened Gary’s lead, smacking a solo shot to make it 4-3, but the Cats answered in the top of the fifth as Daniel Lingua hit his own solo home run to give Gary a 5-3 lead. The X’s came back to make it a one-run game in the fifth with a bases-loaded walk to Gimenez to make it 5-4.
The RailCats made it a 7-4 game after a sacrifice from Gio Diaz off Carlos Diaz and an RBI single from Marriaga scored Daniel Lingua in the 6th. The X’s also threatened that inning, but they failed to score as Aaron Phillips locked down the X’s. The RailCats added two runs in the top of the ninth after a scoreless eighth when Gary’s Francisco Del Valle and LG Castillo both added RBIs off X’s Sean Rackoski, scoring Lingua and Diaz to make it 9-4 Gary. The Cats put in Jesus Rosario to close it out, but after he loaded the bases, Gary moved on to closer DJ Wilkinson. Wilkinson walked the X’s Kelly and Chase Harris back-to-back to make it a 9-6 game, but it wasn’t enough as Wilkinson struck out Delvin Zinn to end the game and earned the save (4).
The Explorers play the final game of the three game series against the Gary SouthShore Railcats Thursday night June 15 at 7:05 p.m. Tickets for the season can be purchased online at XSBaseball.com, in person at the Lewis and Clark Park Box Office or by calling 712-277-WINS. You can catch all the X’s action on aabaseball.tv and on radio at KSCJ 94.9 FM and 1360 AM.