Goldeyes blank Milkmen, stretch streak to six

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This article was published 21/07/2024 (457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes are the hottest team in the American Association right now.

With a clean 8-0 win against the Milwaukee Milkmen, the Fish completed their second series sweep in a row, extending their longest winning streak of the season to six games in front of 4,803 fans at Blue Cross Park on Sunday.

Dominant pitching, which is almost a guarantee for the Goldeyes this season, was led by starter Joey Matulovich who picked up his eighth win of the season.

“He’s been unbelievable,” said manager Logan Watkins. “I can’t even think if he’s had a bad game… He just continues to go out and prove that he’s one of the best pitchers out there.”

Matulovich allowed just two hits in seven innings pitched with nine strikeouts. Nick Trogrlic-Iverson pitched the remaining three innings, keeping the Milkmen off the scoreboard.

“I feel good,” said Matulovich. “Obviously there’s always things you could work on, always things you could be able to do better at, strive for perfection, will never actually get there but try and get there. It’s going well, I just got to keep it rolling.”

“We’ve just been better offensively,” said Watkins. “We always give ourselves a chance pitching wise… It’s just been the whole story of the first few months of the season as we haven’t been blown out of any games because our pitching is good enough to keep us in every game. It’s just a matter of it we’re going to hit that day or not.”

Today, hitting was no problem for the Goldeyes.

Left-fielder Miles Simington got things cracking early, his single driving in first baseman Roby Enríquez for a 1-0 lead at the bottom of the first.

Centre-fielder Nick Anderson, playing his eighth game as a Goldeye after being acquired from the Lincoln Saltdogs on July 12, capitalized on a throwing error by the Milkmen to extend the lead to 2-0 at the bottom of the fourth.

Towards the end of the game, the Fish had a burst of offence, starting with a rocket from right-fielder Max Murphy over left field, bringing in Simington on a two-run home run at the bottom of the seventh. Dayson Croes added another run in the inning to stretch the lead to 5-0.

The Fish added three more at the bottom of the eight with runs by Enríquez, Keshawn Lynch and Simington.

“Everybody loves everybody, everybody’s having a good time,” said Matulovich. “So it makes it a lot easier when everybody thinks positive.”

Ryley Widell started for the Milkmen, allowing two runs and three hits in five innings pitched. Davis Welch and Ben Gerl were the relievers, both allowing three runs.

The Goldeyes improved to 36-28 on the season while the Milkmen fell to 31-33.

“We’re playing together as a team,” said Matulovich. “We talked about it as a team before, it’s not just individual bats, it’s stringing hits together, playing together. Obviously, defence is incredible. So it makes it a lot easier to pitch when you got defence that can play like that.”

The Goldeyes are now heading into the three-day all-star break. Representing the team at the all-star game events Monday and Tuesday in Kansas City, Kan., are Matulovich, Trogrlic-Iverson, Simington, Croes, Rob Emery and Travis Seabrooke. The three-day break in the season marks the official halfway point for the 117-day campaign for the league.

“Hopefully keep playing well and then we’ll probably add a few guys to the roster,” said Watkins, looking forward to the back half of the season. “Try to make sure the team is strong and winning.”

The Fish will be back in action Thursday to start a four-game series against the Sioux Falls Canaries on the road. Game time is 6:35 p.m.

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca