American Association Insider: Friday August 28th Takeaways

 Kevin Luckow

(non member of IBWAA)

Well, it was yet another adventurous and noteworthy night in the ol' Association. Instead of dilly dallying around, let's get to the games. 

Kane County 4 Sioux City 3

The Cougars led 3-0 before the Explorers offense possibly sluggish from the overnight trip, finally woke up, tying the game at three in the seventh inning. Cooper Weiss singled in a run to give the Cougars the lead again in the eighth, 4-3. That set the stage for controversy in the ninth. It appeared to many eyewitnesses tin the ballpark that an Austin Davis drive to left field should've been a game tying home run, but the umpire crew huddled and upheld a foul ball call, causing the ejection of Explorers manager Steve Montgomery. I couldn't pick up the ball on the replay on AABTV. The Explorers would get a runner on base but could not tie the game. A crushing loss that will be looked back at if the Explorers miss the playoffs by a game. 

Gary SouthShore 8 Sioux Falls 6

Another bleary eyed team was the Sioux Falls Canaries who drove from Fargo to Gary following their game last night. And it was the RailCats taking advantage racking up a 6-2 lead in the fourth inning. Down 8-3 in the ninth inning, the Canaries make a game of it scoring three runs to get within two runs. But this is a continual story for the Canaries especially in the second half of the season. The starting pitching is forcing the offense on so many nights to have to score ten runs to win. Granted with pitching being what it is in this league, it's not impossible, but it is not a long term formula for success, especially after Labor Day. The Canaries do catch a break with the Explorers loss, but the Canaries need to find their groove in the last nine games of the season. 

Kansas City 6 Lincoln 3

The team that stood to gain the most from Sioux City and Sioux Falls losing was the Lincoln Saltdogs. But Geison Urbaez shut the Saltdogs down until allowing three runs in the ninth. Tyler Gentry and Jose Torres both homered for the Monarchs. The Saltdogs are still stuck at four games back for the final playoff spot with nine games to play. Do you still bank on hoping Sioux Falls is the team to beat and look ahead to the final four games of the season at the Birdcage? Or throw in the towel and deal tonight?

Lake Country 6 Winnipeg 5

The Goldeyes took a step back in their late chase to catch the Monarchs, giving up two runs in the ninth to the DockHounds to lose the series opener at Blue Cross Park. The story in this game however is Joshua Mears who is now the single season home run king of the American Asscociation hitting his 34th off of Landen Bourassa. The DockHounds also broke the league record for most runs scored in a season with their 668th run of the season. The DockHounds remain two games behind the Milwaukee Milkmen for first place in the East.

Milwaukee 2 Fargo-Moorhead 1

No box score regurgitation on this one as iScore is still in the bottom of the second inning. But from what I can gather from highlights, Jose Sermo now is the single season home run king for the RedHawks, and now trails Jabari Henry for the all time league lead by one home run, but will already have a home run when the RedHawks game from June gets continued next week. I'm guessing Jhordany Mezquita threw well as he allowed the Sermo home run in the seventh inning and didn't allow anything else. The Milkmen keep their one game lead over Kansas City for the top overall record. The RedHawks trail the Goldeyes by a game for what amounts to home field advantage when the teams likely meet in the first round of the playoffs. 

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Andreachi


Cleburne 11 Chicago 9

Although the result of it should be obvious, the Dogs found out that a snowman in 95 degree weather will melt. The Dogs scored eight runs in the fourth to take a 9-4 lead. But like the snowman, the lead would melt as a four run seventh inning put the Roaders in the lead for good. The lead off batters had an impact tonight as Sam Biller homered and drove in three for the Dogs. Aaron Takacs has made an impact on the Railroaders lineup as he homered and drove in four runs. Takacs had three hits and is now hitting .412 in his brief time in Texas. With the win, Cleburne stays 5.5 games ahead of Gary SouthShore. The RailCats only play 99 games and only have nine games left. We'll see what the RailCats do by noon on Saturday.






















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