Fish defeat Milkmen 4-3 in memorable first game

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This article was published 22/06/2019 (2319 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For a lack of a better word, Friday night at Shaw Park was an absolute gong show.

Or I guess you could say, Saturday morning.

The Fish welcomed the Milwaukee Milkmen, an American Association expansion team, to town for the very first time as they opened up a four-game series.

And the first meeting between these two teams in Winnipeg was a memorable one, although the game was spoiled for the Milkmen as they lost 4-3 due to a questionable call by the umps. The game took nearly five hours to complete, as the last out was recorded a couple minutes past midnight.

So what made this game so crazy?

There was a nearly two-hour rain delay after the top of the fifth inning. There was a botched call in the seventh inning that ultimately cost the Milkmen the game. And there was a potential scare in the eighth inning as veteran Goldeyes outfielder Reggie Abercrombie went down after chasing a fly ball on presumably a slippery field, although he ended up somehow staying in the game and drove in a game-tying run in the eighth inning despite looking incredibly uncomfortable.

The Fish led 2-0 after the top of five, thanks to a stellar start from Winnipegger Ryan Johnson. The hometown product held the Milkmen off the scoreboard during his five and one-third innings of work and struck out three batters in a no decision. Then, the rain started to pour and the game was delayed for an hour and 45 minutes. With five innings in the books and no sign of the rain stopping, the Goldeyes were close to being awarded the win as the league rule is for games to count as long as they go a minimum of five innings. But to the delight of the Milkmen (at the time), they waited things out and resumed play as the rain finally stopped.

Fast forward to the top of the seventh inning where the Milkmen loaded the bases for outfielder Taisei Fukuhara while still trailing 2-0. Fukuhara drilled the ball to left field and hit the bottom of the foul pole, which should have counted as a grand slam. But the umpires somehow missed it, and Fukuhara had to settle for a three-run triple to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately for the Milkmen, the missed call ultimately cost them the game as the Goldeyes answered back with two runs in the bottom of the eighth to take advantage of the mistake.

Abercrombie tied the game at 3-3 on an infield single, and then first baseman Kyle Martin hit a sacrifice fly to plate James Harris for the winning run. Victor Capellan came on in the ninth inning and finished things off to collect his 10th save of the season for the Fish. Goldeyes reliever Marcus Crescentini reeled in the win to improve to 4-0 on the year. Krystien Johnson-Battilana (1-2) gave up the two runs in the eighth inning to be tagged with the loss for the Milkmen. With the victory, the Goldeyes improved to 19-12. The Milkmen dropped to 14-18.

There’s no time to rest for the Goldeyes and Milkmen, as they’ll return to Shaw Park tonight to play a double header. The first of two seven-inning games starts at 5 p.m.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31