WINNIPEG, Man.—The Sioux City Explorers (63-36) rolled past the Winnipeg Goldeyes (41-57) with a 6-1 win, locking in momentum as the regular season winds down. In the penultimate game before the postseason, Sioux City looked every bit like a team ready for a deep run in September.
Austin Davis doubled off Landen Bourassa (6-5) to open the game for Sioux City. Henry George moved him over, and D’Shawn Knowles brought him home with a single. Ramon Bramasco responded in the bottom half with a towering solo home run off Jared Wetherbee (9-4) to even the score.
The X’s grabbed the lead again in the fourth. They loaded the bases with one out for Kurtis Byrne, and the catcher delivered by driving Bourassa’s first offering to the warning track in right field to bring home Michael Quiñones.
Davis and George were at the corners with no outs in the fifth for the Explorers. Bourassa’s pickoff attempt to first got away from Matthew Warkentin, allowing Davis to score. Later in the inning, George tagged and advanced to third on a flyout by Knowles, and Josh Day knocked him in with an RBI single up the middle to push the advantage to 4-1.
Ben DeTaeye took over for Wetherbee in the sixth and worked through two scoreless innings.
Sioux City plated another in the sixth, and that was all manager Logan Watkins needed to see from his starter. Zan Rose took over on the hill for the Goldeyes and retired the side without any further damage. The X’s got to Rose in the eighth via Davis’s bloop single to left to take a 6-1 lead.
Chase Jesse and Ryan Beaird finished off the victory with a pair of scoreless frames. The win clinched at least a split in the series for the Explorers as they head into their final game of the regular season.
The Explorers finish the four-game set against the Winnipeg Goldeyes tomorrow. The first pitch for 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 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:
-Jared Wetherbee picked up his team leading nine win and now has 16 in his Sioux City career.
-Sioux City got their league leading 63 sacrifice overall and their 44th fly in the game also a leading total.
-Henry George needs one hit for 100 this season and Josh Day needs two.
-The X’s are 10-7 on Sunday.
-Sioux City leads the season series 7-5.
-The Explorers have a winning record against 9 of 11 teams and are even with Fargo and Lake Country. Sioux City will not have a losing record against any team in the league this season.
-The team struck out six to run their total to 903 the second time the club has eclipsed 900 in a season.
-Kurtis Byrne stole his first base as a pro in the game.
-The X’s stole nine bases in the game for the second time this year and have swiped two or more 61 times in 99 games.
-Sioux City will play game one of the playoff 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.
