SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Another day brought another broken Sioux City Explorers’ (57-31) single-season record as Kyle Marman (8-3) fired eight strong innings en route to a 7-3 victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs (33-54). Although they fell behind early, the X’s scored six unanswered runs and inched closer to their first division title since 2018.
The Explorers’ unmatched speed set the tone in the first. Austin Davis walked to open the inning, and starter Franny Cobos (5-2) picked him off at first base, but an interference call during the rundown awarded Davis second. He stole third on the next pitch and scored when Zac Vooletich lifted a sacrifice fly out to right field.
The Saltdogs responded by loading the bases with three consecutive infield hits in the third. Brody Fahr grounded Marman’s 0-1 offering sharply back up the middle for a go-ahead two-run single and the fourth straight hit to start the frame. Marman would settle down, retiring the side without more damage.
Lincoln tacked on another in the following inning. Kyle Battle led off the fourth with a single and moved to second on a groundout. With two outs, Battle still stood at second base, but Gustavo Sosa doubled to extend Lincoln’s lead to 3-1.
After the X’s brought home a run in the first, Cobos retired the next nine batters in order. Josh Day ended the stretch with a leadoff walk in the fifth, and Sioux City took control of the game from there.
The next batter, Maikol Escotto, delivered a laser into the left-center gap on the first pitch after the base on balls for an RBI double as Sioux City began to chip away. Torin Montgomery stepped up next and smacked a double of his own, this time into the right-center gap, and replaced Escotto at second base to tie the game. Two batters later, Abdiel Layer gave the Explorers a 4-3 lead on an RBI single to left with the infield drawn in.
Marman pitched into the eighth inning but loaded the bases with one out as Rolando Espinosa made his way to the plate. The right-hander sent him and Sosa down on strikes to end the inning and become the all-time single-season record in strikeouts for the Sioux City Explorer on his 135th pitch of the night. The Explorers set all-time single-season individual records in back-to-back games as Marman’s triumph was paired with Austin Davis breaking the single-season stolen bases record on Sunday.
Sioux City loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, and Montgomery came through with his second run-scoring hit of the day. His single to center drove in two and gave the X’s some much-needed breathing room heading into the final frame. D’Shawn Knowles scored later in the inning on a passed ball to take the game out of a save situation.
Rookie left-hander, Ben DeTaeye, came on in the ninth and fired a scoreless inning to close out the contest. With the victory, the X’s are now 11-0 in Marman’s starts since June 18th, and their magic number to clinch the West Division dwindled to eight.
This series with the Lincoln Saltdogs concludes on Thursday, August 21. The Explorers then head on the road to face the Sioux Falls Canaries on Friday and Saturday before returning home on Sunday to play them again. For media requests, please feel free to reach out at 817-739-3693. Tickets for all Explorers home games can be purchased online as XSBaseball.com or in person at the Lewis and Clark Box Office.
Notes from the Booth with DV:
-The Explorers now lead the season series against Lincoln 8-3.
-Austin Davis stole his 51 and 52nd and is tied for the league lead with Jarius Richards of Gary SouthShore.
-The X’s have 240 stolen bases for the season and stole four or more in a game for the 28th time in 88 games.
-Sioux City now has a magic number of 8 for the West Division crown.
-Kyle Marman passed Patrick Johnson (2015) for the organization strikeout lead with 133.
-It was the team’s 41st quality start in 88 games and the Explorers are 32-9 in those games.
-D’Shawn Knowles had his 11th multi hit game in his last 20.
-Torin Montgomery is hitting .324 for August.
-Josh Day extended his hitting streak to eight games.
-Sioux City has the league’s best record at 57-31 and best record at home at 29-15.
-The 57 wins is the third highest single season total in X’s history matching the 2019 team that won 57.
