Goldeyes streak snapped, lose sole possession of first place

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The good news? Goldeyes right-fielder Josh Mazzola increased his hit streak to 11 games in the loss to St. Paul at Shaw Park Saturday. (RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

The Winnipeg Goldeyes now share first place in the American Association’s North Division after having sole possession for 52 straight days.

The Goldeyes lost 4-3 to the St. Paul Saints, who went ahead in the eighth inning on left-fielder Willie Cabrera's second solo home run of the night, on Saturday at Shaw Park before a crowd of 5,512.

The Goldeyes, whose six-game winning streak came to an end, had a one-game lead in the North Division for the past nine straight days but were unable to get any further ahead. This is because the second-place Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks have won 11 straight games and are now tied forst first.

"We were fortunate to reel off that many in a row and we had a chance to win today, we just didn’t do enough to help ourselves," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney. "We had one little mistake on defence and that cost us a run and just didn’t hit enough. We had opportunities to drive some runs in, especially early and in the middle of the game. We just didn’t do the job."

Cabrera opened the game’s scoring in the first inning with a home run off Winnipeg’s starting pitcher Ace Walker. The Goldeyes replied in the bottom of the first with Chris Roberson’s homer over the far right-field wall to tie the score 1-1.

Winnipeg scored two more runs in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead when Price Kendall scored on Yurendell de Caster's bases-loaded walk. A sacrifice fly by Luis Alen scored Roberson.

In the top of the fifth, a Goldeyes’ error by Jose Duran resulted in a pair of unearned runs. An RBI single by catcher Alex Garabedian and a sacrifice fly by centre-fielder Jose Hernandez tied the score at 3-3. Cabrera hit his game-winning homer hit off Goldeyes reliever Kaohi Downing, who took the loss.

Walker again had a solid performance pitching seven innings and allowing three runs on five hits while striking out five.

Winnipeg (32-21) and St. Paul (24-28) will meet again Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the final game of their four-game set. Sunday’s meeting will conclude Winnipeg’s 12-game homestand in which the Goldeyes have a 6-5 record so far. Winnipeg’s Chris Salamida (2-2, 3.99) and St. Paul’s Anthony Claggett (2-2, 8.20) are expected to be the starting pitchers.

Diamond Dust: Goldeyes right-fielder Josh Mazzola is on an 11-game hitting streak... It was Pyjama Night at Shaw Park as fans wore pyjamas to the game. Fans were able to pitch tents in the outfield after the game to stay overnight and watch the movie "The Adventures of Tin Tin" on the scoreboard’s big screen.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPAshleyPrest