Goldeyes come up short in loss to Monarchs

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This article was published 30/07/2024 (450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a nail-biter Tuesday night at Blue Cross Park as the Winnipeg Goldeyes fell short of completing the comeback against the Kansas City Monarchs, who defeated the Fish 4-3.

With a crowd of 4,549 celebrating Ukrainian Night, this is one the Goldeyes are going to want back — especially coming off a tight series against the West Division-leading Sioux Falls Canaries.

The Goldeyes came back from 3-1 to tie the game at the bottom of the seventh, but a late run by Monarchs third baseman Carson Maxwell in the top of the ninth crushed the hopes of a comeback victory.

“It’s a tough one,” said starting pitcher Landen Bourassa. “I mean, good crowd tonight, starting the homestand you want to start on a good note. Unfortunately, the bats didn’t go our way. It’s just the nature of it sometimes.”

After a performance by the Winnipeg-famous Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus and the Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, the Fish started off strong with a Miles Simington double bringing in Rob Emery for an early 1-0 lead.

Simington was a key part in the Goldeyes’ victory over the Canaries Sunday with his two-run inside-the-park home run in the 11th inning.

After a few scoreless innings, the Monarchs tied the game up in the top of the fourth with a run by second baseman Trent Giambrone. In the fifth, they added two more runs to extend their lead to 3-1.

The bats stayed silent for the Fish for five innings, but the squad has been known for late-inning heroics this season — and it showed with runs by Jake McMurray and Andy Armstrong at the bottom seventh to tie the game.

Even with a nine-hit performance, the two runs were all they could muster, ending the game with 10 players left on base.

“Tough to lose that one,” said manager Logan Watkins. “Really good game. Even when we went on the road when we played Sioux Falls, the two that we lost there were one and two-run games there too. Been a lot of close games in the past week or so, but that’s what it’s going to look like in this last month. Everyone’s making the playoff push and we gotta find a way to win close games.”

Going into the game, the Goldeyes held a team ERA of 3.52 — almost a whole point lower than the second-place Canaries in that category.

Bourassa was ready to show why the Goldeyes have the best pitching staff in the American Association, allowing seven hits and three runs in seven innings pitched with one strikeout.

“It’s been good,” said Bourassa on pitching. “It’s almost like it’s all contagious when it comes to hitting and pitching. So when we’re pitching, we’re pitching really good and everyone kind of feeds off each other.”

Five pitchers took the mound for the Monarchs Tuesday, with Jonathan Sprinkle picking up the win.

The Goldeyes, who started a stretch of 13 games in 13 days Tuesday night, will meet the Monarchs for game two of the series Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

“We always play well at home,” said Bourassa. “So I got confidence in our house.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca