Murphy helps Goldeyes battle back to beat Explorers

Max Murphy didn’t hesitate when asked to describe his season so far.

“It’s been terrible,” the veteran Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder told the Free Press.

Murphy is admittedly critical of himself, the product of a high standard he’s set during a pro baseball career that began in 2014 and has included the past six years with the Fish, where he’s established new franchise records for home runs and RBIs.

So you can imagine the relief felt on Sunday when he looked a lot more like the Murphy of old in leading his team to a 6-2 comeback victory over the Sioux City Explorers to close out a six-game homestand at Blue Cross Park in front of a season-high crowd of 6,825.

Murphy, 33, went 4-for-4 with two singles and two doubles, driving in a run and scoring one himself. He raised his overall average from .246 to .256 in the process.

“I didn’t miss pitches today,” is how Murphy explained the great day at the plate. “I’ve been feeling better lately and seeing it pretty well. The results just haven’t been there.”

Better late than never for a Goldeyes team that would benefit from Murphy’s bat getting hot down the stretch.

“There’s only a handful guys in our lineup that are true impact bats,” manager Logan Watkins said after his team improved to 44-35 overall, including 17-4 over the past 21 games.

“I understand the type of player that he still is. He was probably second-guessing himself a little bit. I would say the last two, three weeks you’re seeing more decisive swings, more swings with intent to do damage. He’s still having some tough luck a little bit, but (Sunday) was good. Where he was hitting it, they weren’t.”

Murphy has still belted nine home runs this year (third best on the team) and has now driven in 44 (fifth-best), so it’s not like he’s been completely ineffective.

But to illustrate Murphy’s struggles this year, he was hitting Sunday out of the eight-hole. Watkins moved him down the order a few weeks ago, hoping to lighten the load a bit while also promoting some other players who’ve been swinging it well.

“It’s actually kind of worked out. You put him towards the back of the lineup and all of a sudden you’ve got a pretty dangerous bat down there,” said Watkins.

“Eventually, if he has more days like (Sunday), he might creep back up.”

What could have been a difficult conversation with a proud player like Murphy was anything but.

“It just so happens everyone else is pretty much having career years. So it’s good for our lineup. It really lengthens it,” said Murphy.

Sunday’s game was a perfect example. All but No. 9 hitter Kevin Garcia recorded at least one hit, and six different batters drove in a run as Winnipeg turned a 2-0 deficit through five innings into a victory.

Outfielder Noah Marcelo drove in his team-leading 72nd of the year, while Ray-Patrick Didder (59th), Keshawn Lynch (49th), Adam Hall (48th) and Raphael Pelletier (30th) had the other RBIs.

Winnipeg also got a great effort from starting pitcher Kevin Vaupel, who gave up two runs on four hits over six innings with five strikeouts. Relivers James Colyer, Eli Saul and Derrick Cherry all worked scoreless frames.

Sioux City had taken the first two games of this three-game series — a 4-3 squeaker on Friday night and a 17-7 laugher on Saturday evening during the team’s annual “bark in the park” game.

The Goldeyes are just a half game behind Kansas City for first place in the West Division, thanks in large part to a recent 13-game winning stream that was the longest in the club’s 32-year history.

“That completely changed our season,” said Murphy. “Everyone here, we know we’re a great team and we are planning to make a run at it. We’re excited.”

The top four teams in each division make the playoffs, which start on Sept. 9. Sioux City currently sits fifth in the West at 38-42, six-and-a-half games behind Winnipeg.

The Goldeyes now hit the road for six straight games — three in Sioux Falls, followed by three in Sioux City.

Expect to see some roster juggling in the coming days. Winnipeg currently has just the bare minimum of nine healthy batters, as Roby Enriquez has spent the past week dealing with an injury. He’s not going on the trip and will be out at least another seven days.

“I think the plan is to probably sign somebody,” said Watkins. “We’ve kind of been lucky position-player wise this year to be pretty healthy.”

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The Goldeyes have also been forced to shut down veteran pitchers Mitch Lambson and Tasker Strobel since late last month due to salary cap issues caused by re-signing ace starter Landen Bourassa, who returned last week from Mexico. However, both can be reactivated in the coming days.

“Those two guys had to take one for the team,” said Watkins. “The way we kind of have our salary cap mapped out, Strobel should be able to be activated in two, three days. And then Lambson when we get home from the road trip.”

Not unlike Murphy, both Lambson and Strobel are proven performers at this level who have really struggled this season. Watkins hopes they might also be able to regain some of their previous form and provide a major boost heading into the playoffs, where Winnipeg will be aiming for its first championship since 2017.

“Obviously they’re both having the years they wanted to have, but still capable of getting the job done for us,” he said.

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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.