Pheasants slip past Fish in 10th inning

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/06/2011 (5558 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was an adventurous night at Shaw Park Tuesday with both thrilling play, weather and fireworks as the Winnipeg Goldeyes (17-14) went to extra innings against the Sioux Falls Pheasants (11-19) in the second game of their three-game series in front of a sellout crowd of 7,465 at Shaw Park.

Despite a valiant effort from the Fish, the Pheasants won the American Association game 4-3.

Reliever Ian Thomas was sent out in the tenth inning to try and add to his team-leading four wins. However, Thomas struggled to find the strike zone and gave up two runs in the inning, putting the Pheasants up 4-2.

In the bottom of the tenth, Goldeyes outfielder Victor Ferrante stepped up to the plate and belted a solo home run to put the Fish within one. However that was all the home team could muster.

Wes Long hit a one-run double in the first inning to bring in Kody Kaiser and put the Goldeyes up 1-0. However in the top of the second with the bases loaded, right-handed pitcher Barry Fowler, the 35-year-old rookie, walked Sioux Falls centre-fielder Francisco Leandro to bring in Brandon Sing and tie the score. Fowler gave up one more run in the inning before finding his comfort zone.

The third and fifth innings featured Fowler in cruise control as he retired the first three batters he faced in each. However, Sioux Falls starter Ben Moore, a former Goldeye, matched Fowler’s stellar fifth inning by retiring his first three batters — striking out two of the three Goldeyes he faced and easily getting Price Kendall with a putout to first base.

Fowler pitched six innings before manager Rick Forney gave reliever Kevin Light a chance to show off his arm in the seventh inning, where he struck out the first batter he faced and recorded another before the inning was over.

The sellout crowd saw two spectacular fielding plays –first when Sioux Falls second basemen Kevin Carby batted a ball directly into Fowler’s glove without the pitcher having to flinch, and again when Long went high in the air in the eighth inning to grab a putout. The Fish attempted to rally in the bottom of the eighth, when Long’s sacrifice fly brought in Price and tied the score at 2-2.

Kody Kaiser then stole from first to third as the newly signed Jon Weber attempted to be the hero on his first night and bring Kaiser home but it was not to be as Weber grounded out to first, and the game quickly headed for extra innings where the Goldeyes lost their grip.

robby.frankel@freepress.mb.ca