Hat trick of wins for Goldeyes

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This article was published 26/05/2019 (2350 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes have opened the 2019 season with three straight series victories.

After starting the year with back-to-back series wins in Texas to give them a 5-2 record, the Goldeyes came home to Shaw Park this weekend and continued their winning ways by winning two out of three games against the defending league-champion Kansas City T-Bones to improve to 7-3.

The Fish took the series with a 4-2 win on Sunday in front of 3,085 fans. The Goldeyes already have more wins against Kansas City this season than they did all of last year, as they went 1-5 against the T-Bones in 2018.

The Fish played their first two series against the Texas AirHogs and the Cleburne Railroaders — the worst teams in the American Association last season. Goldeyes starting pitcher Kevin McGovern said Kansas City has a big league quality lineup and beating them shows that the Fish have what it takes to have a bounce-back year.

“Big deal,” McGovern said. “Especially because we went down to Texas, who weren’t exactly one of the best teams last year. Going up against a really good team and kind of showing that we can go toe-to-toe and then actually take the advantage is definitely a confidence boost going forward.”

McGovern led the way on Sunday with a stellar pitching performance. The 29-year-old lefty — who’s in his fourth season with the Goldeyes — struck out 11 batters and only gave up three hits and one unearned run in seven innings of work to improve his record to 2-0. The Goldeyes only had four hits in the game, but McGovern’s performance made up for it. McGovern also moved into second place on the Goldeyes’ career-strikeout list as he now has 387 with the Fish. McGovern said after the game he’s not one to follow records, as he’s more focused on helping the team win games and compete in the North Division.

“We want to stay in the hunt and be a contender. It’s one of those things where if you fall behind, it’s a big thing of momentum,” McGovern said of the team’s early success.

“Starting off the year knowing we’re good and we’re the team to beat, we want it to stay that way. I think we have a really good team this year and it’s really easy to let them put the ball in play as I know they’re going to make good plays behind me.”

The series opener was rained out on Friday, forcing the teams to play two seven-inning games on Saturday. The first game needed eight innings to be settled as it was tied 3-3 after seven innings of play. Kansas City second baseman Mikey Reynolds drove in the winning run on a single before third baseman Darnell Sweeney added an insurance run on a double to give the T-Bones a 5-3 win.

In the second game of the day, the Fish led 3-1 after six innings, but due to the American Association’s curfew rule (can’t play past midnight), the seventh inning was played on Sunday before the series finale.

‘Knowing we’re good and the team to beat, we want it to stay that way’– Fish pitcher Kevin McGovern

The Goldeyes got their first of two wins on Sunday as reliever Christian Torres shut the door in the seventh to pick up his first save of the year to give the Fish a 3-1 win.

Kansas City fell to 5-3 after Sunday’s losses. It’s been a unique start to the season for the T-Bones, as Friday was the fourth time in less than two weeks that they’ve had a game rained out. Saturday was their third doubleheader in nine days.

The Fish will have today off before they welcome the Gary SouthShore RailCats to town for a three-game series starting on Tuesday.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @TaylorAllen31