A doubleheader to forget

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2019 (2341 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winds were gusty at Shaw Park on Sunday afternoon, but even they couldn’t be used as an excuse for the first game of the Winnipeg Goldeyes’ doubleheader against the Cleburne Railroaders.

The teams played two seven-inning games on Sunday, making up for Saturday’s rain-postponed game.

The Fish were blown away 8-0 in their matinee at Shaw Park, failing to notch an extra-base hit throughout the shortened game. In their second game, the home team lost 5-2.

Manager Rick Forney said bats have to start ringing — the sooner, the better.

“Unfortunately, we’re not hitting right now. You have to score runs in this league. We’re not scoring,” Forney said. “We gotta get some hits, it builds confidence. Good at-bats are contagious. Or bad ones, as you see.”

The deficit is the largest the team has lost by this season. It’s the second time they’ve been blanked, the first being just four days ago in a 5-0 loss to the Sioux City Explorers.

Cleburne notched two two-run homers on their way to their first win. Despite a so-so 12-10 record, the Railroaders hit six home runs in the three-game series. The team now leads the American Association in dingers, with 27 in the first 23 games this season.

Winnipeg-born pitcher Ryan Johnson started off strong for the Goldeyes, retiring the first three batters he faced. But he faltered as the game went on, allowing six runs on seven hits, while walking three batters over just four innings.

Johnson entered the game with a sparkling 0.72 ERA, but now drops 1-1 to a 3.78 ERA.

He’s the first Winnipeg-born Goldeyes player since Donnie Smith’s final year with the club in 2006.

Other pitching issues arose in Game 2, but not for the reason you’d expect.

In a remarkably rare and strange occurrence, Goldeyes starting pitcher Harrison Cooney got tossed out of the game just four batters into the first inning.

It happened when Cleburne’s Nick Rotola raced from third on a single, attempting to slide into home under the tag of Goldeyes’ catcher Kevin Garcia. Home plate umpire Chris Lee called Rotola safe, sparking criticism from the catcher.

It appeared Cooney walked to home plate to pipe in, with both players saying Rotola missed the plate during his slide. Neither player was animated during the interaction.

About 30 seconds after it began, Cooney turned on his heels and began walking back to the mound. That’s when Lee turned and pointed at him, ejecting Cooney from the game.

The pitcher’s early exit threw the Fish into an emergency bullpen situation.“Bullpen did a good job today, we asked a lot of them,” Forney said. “Like nine-and-a-third innings we asked them to pitch, so they did a good job.”

Five different bullpen pitchers combined for 6 1/3 innings in the second game, allowing four runs on nine hits, striking out eight.

The Goldeyes had a chance to tie the game in the fourth, but narrowly missed out. The Fish scored two quick runs to make it a 3-2 game, but Railroaders’ starter Michael Gunn worked to preserve the lead and strand the tying run on second. Gunn improves to 2-0 (4.39 ERA) while Cooney falls 2-2 (5.30 ERA).

After an off-day today, the Goldeyes (14-9) hit the road for a five-game road trip. Their next game is Tuesday, when they begin a three-game series against the Gary SouthShore RailCats at 7:10 p.m.

devonshewchuk@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @devonshewchuk