Goldeyes dump Milkmen to cap series

The Winnipeg Goldeyes (22-23) are still hovering around the .500 mark, but came one game closer with a dominant 9-3, series-winning game against the Milwaukee Milkmen on Sunday.

The Goldeyes, who were last in the American Association West Division going into Sunday’s game, had their four-series win streak snapped earlier in the week on the road against the Sioux City Explorers.

On Tuesday to start the series, the Fish came out strong, putting up six runs in the top of the first, but couldn’t hold onto their lead, going scoreless for the rest of the game.

Sioux City slowly chipped away at the deficit before eventually winning 7-6 in the tenth inning.

After being rained out Wednesday at Lewis & Clark Park, the teams wrapped up the series with a Thursday doubleheader, which they split.

In the first game, the Goldeyes struck early again, building a 4-0 lead by the third inning. The Explorers tied it up with a grand slam, but a Jacob Robson single in the seventh drove in the winning run for the Fish.

In the second game, it was a pitchers’ duel, with Goldeyes starter Luke Boyd and Sioux City’s Jared Wetherbee both delivering near-perfect performances. The lone run went against Boyd, and the Explorers went on to win 1-0.

Back at home, the Fish opened the weekend series at Blue Cross Park against the Milkmen with a comeback of their own on Friday.

After finding themselves down 4-0, the Fish responded in the third, eventually tying the game in the sixth and adding three more in the eighth to take the win 7-4.

In Saturday’s Game 2, despite a four-run rally in the seventh, the Goldeyes couldn’t overcome the 8-2 lead Milwaukee had built by the fourth inning, eventually losing 8-6.

But the Fish built off their late offence into Sunday, starting Game 3 of the series with runs by Jacob Robson, Max Murphy and Matthew Warkentin in the bottom of the first to take a 3-0 lead.

Milwaukee responded with two runs in the top of the second, but the Goldeyes matched them in the bottom half, extending their lead to 5-2.

Milwaukee’s Andy Blake hit a solo home run in the fifth, but the Goldeyes had an answer once again, with two runs of their own in the same inning.

In the sixth, Murphy recorded his third RBI of the game by driving in Robson and Andy Armstrong, extending the lead to 9-3, which would remain the final score.

The Goldeyes continue their homestand at Blue Cross Park on Tuesday against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks at 4 p.m. It’s the first time the Fish have played on Canada Day since 2019.

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca