Goldeyes offence comes alive in battering of Milkmen

WINNIPEG Goldeyes manager Logan Watkins was preaching patience earlier this week, believing it was only a matter of time until his team’s sleepy batters and pitchers began to wake up.

The alarm clock finally went off Friday night at Blue Cross Park.

A 9-2 victory over Milwaukee was just what the doctor ordered for a bleary-eyed group that had been outscored 49-16 through six games.

The Goldeyes improve to 2-5 on the young season, while the Milkmen — which swept Winnipeg over three games in Wisconsin last weekend — fall to 5-2.

Tip your cap to veteran lefty starter Mitch Lambson, who rebounded from a rough first outing of the season (seven runs surrendered in three and one-third innings on Sunday) to keep Milwaukee’s potent hitters mostly in check.

The 35-year-old who was born in California but now lives full-time in Winnipeg gave up two earned runs over six innings of work. He scattered five hits, struck out three, walked one batter and got stronger as the game went on, retiring the last 11 batters he faced.

It was vintage Lambson, who is now in his seventh season with the Fish. He doesn’t throw hard by modern-day pro baseball standards, but he can be a handful when he’s changing up speeds and locating his arsenal of pitches.

Ryo Kohigashi came out of the bullpen to throw three impressive innings and earn the save. The rookie Japanese reliever gave up no runs on four hits and struck out three.

Fortunately for the Goldeyes, a solid team pitching performance wasn’t wasted by a dormant offence. Winnipeg continues to trend upwards in that regard, scoring two, two, two, two, three, five and now nine runs over their seven games.

Shortstop Ray-Patrick Didder had the biggest swing of the night, a three-run homer in the third inning which broke the game open. It’s the second big fly of the season for Didder, who also had a pair of walks and a stolen base against the Milkmen.

Centrefielder Noah Marcelo also went deep — a solo shot on the first pitch of the game — for the second time this season.

Second baseman Adam Hall, who was born in Bermuda but now resides in Canada, returned from a three-game injury absence in a big way. Hall, who represented the nation during the recent World Baseball Classic, had a double, three singles, three RBI and two stolen bases while batting out of the six-hole.

“Four hits on my birthday, that’s a nice present to myself,” said Hall, who turned 27 on Friday.

Other notables included rightfielder Max Murphy stroking three singles, first baseman T.J. Schofield-Sam reaching base four times (double, two walks and an error) and designated hitter Jiandido Tromp drawing a bases-loaded walk to notch his fifth RBI of the season, which ties Didder — his Arubian countryman — for the team lead.

Winnipeg was facing Milwaukee ace Solomon Bates, who had thrown five scoreless innings against them during a season-opening win a week earlier. Unfortunately for the crafty righty, he had to leave the game in the second inning with what appeared to be a back injury.

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That left the Milkmen scrambling to fill innings out of their bullpen, which the Goldeyes certainly took advantage of.

As for Winnipeg’s defence, that remains a work-in-progress. The Goldeyes committed three more errors on Friday, bringing them to nine on the year, but there were also some dazzling plays — none better than Murphy making a nice catch and then gunning out a Milwaukee runner at third base in the second inning.

Another double play in the eight — Didder made a diving stab of a hot shot to short, backhanded the ball to Hall who tagged second and fired a laser to first — was also highlight-reel worthy.

Winnipeg will try to win a second consecutive game for the first time this season when they face Milwaukee again today (6 p.m. CT). The three-game series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.

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Mike McIntyre
Reporter

Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.

Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.