American Association Insider: Miles Wolff Cup Playoffs Night One

 Night one did not disappoint as two of the four games were one run games and another was a walkoff winner. A huge round of applause to American Association TV who debuted Playoff Central tonight where fans could watch all four games on their TV screen. I've already nicknamed it the Quadcast. 

Fargo-Moorhead 1 Kansas City 0

I think the big surprise here is that the RedHawks did not start Jake Dykhoff, but opted for Kyle Crigger. It ended up being a great call as Crigger shutout the Monarchs in his seven innings of work allowing only two hits. The only run of the game was off the bat of Lamar Sparks and an RBI single in the seventh inning. Blake Goldsberry was great for Monarchs as well allowing just one run in 6.1 innings in picking up a hard luck loss. Now the RedHawks have Dykhoff and Tyler Jandron available to try to take one of two games at Legends Field.

Kane County 2 Milwaukee 1

The Milkmen understood Lake Country's logic in picking Chicago for their first round opponent after going up against Konnor Ash in Game One. The Milkmen actually had a lead against Ash as Andy Blake homered to give the home team a 1-0 lead in the fourth. But the Cougars had the mojo from last year's Miles Wolff Cup run as Claudio Finol homered to tie the game in the fifth with Josh Allen singling later in the inning to give the Cougars the lead for good. Cougars relievers were dominant as they struck out the final seven Milkmen batters to secure the win. The Cougars are seemingly in the catbird's seat needing to win one of two at Northwestern Medicine Field to advance.

Sioux City 5 Sioux Falls 0

It was a Sioux City kind of night at the plate as the Explorers only had six hits but made the most of them scoring five runs to defeat the Canaries at the Birdcage. The first three Explorers Austin Davis, Henry George and D'Shawn Knowles all reached and eventually scored to give the X's a 3-0 before Kyle Marman had to throw a pitch. It was more than enough for Marman as he allowed only two hits and struck out 10 Canaries in 6.2 innings. The Explorers tacked on two more runs in the ninth and it nearly proved to be important as the Canaries had the bases loaded in the ninth before falling to Reliever of the Year Felix Cepeda. The Canaries now face the tall task of having to win two in a row at Lewis and Clark Park.

Chicago 11 Lake Country 9

This one was by far the most off the rails game of the night. Neither starter made it to the fourth inning. Leading 9-6 in the ninth inning, the Dogs appeared to be headed to a win before Ryan Hernandez hit a three run home run to tie the game against closer Jacob DeLabio. The game appeared to be heading towards extras with former Major leaguer Robert Gsellman in the game for the DockHounds. But the Dogs had a Major leaguer of their own with All Star catcher Chance Sisco. Sisco homered to right field to give the Dogs a walkoff win. Hernandez had two home runs and five runs batted in to lead the DockHounds. Sisco was 3-5 for the night to lead the Dogs 15 hit attack. These two teams will take the series to Oconomowoc on Friday where the DockHounds swept the Dogs last week although all three games were close. It should be a wild finish to this series, it's a shame it's only a best of three series.