Warkentin Homers, But Goldeyes Drop Series Opener
WINNIPEG, MB – The Winnipeg Goldeyes (37-53) could not overcome a seven-run fifth inning outburst by the Lincoln Saltdogs (35-55) and dropped the opener of a three-game series 10-5 Friday evening at Blue Cross Park.
Winnipeg opened the scoring in the first inning. With Ramón Bramasco on third, Miles Simington bounced into a fielder’s choice to give the Goldeyes a 1-0 lead.
Lincoln answered in the second. Rolando Espinosa belted his first of two home runs on the night, a two-run shot that scored Mikey Kane and put the Saltdogs ahead 2-1. Later in the inning, Jake Cone singled home Griffin Everitt to extend the lead to 3-1.
The Goldeyes trimmed the deficit in the third when Max Murphy singled up the middle to score Jacob Robson, making it 3-2.
The Saltdogs broke the game wide open in the fifth with a seven-run inning. Espinosa went deep again, while Brody Fahr, Neyfy Castillo, and Kyle Battle – with a two-run homer – all drove in runs to stretch the lead to 10-2.
Winnipeg answered in the bottom of the inning as Matthew Warkentin launched his 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot that also brought home Murphy. Murphy later scored again in the seventh on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 10-5, but that was as close as the Goldeyes would get.
Mitchell Lambson (L, 8-5) worked five innings, allowing 10 runs (six earned) on 11 hits while striking out two. In the outing, Lambson passed Chris Salamida for second place on the Goldeyes’ all-time strikeouts list. Zan Rose impressed in relief, tossing four shutout innings with five strikeouts.
Nate Blain (W, 5-5) picked up the victory for Lincoln, giving up four earned runs on seven hits over five innings. Johnny Blake and Dominic Freeberger closed out the game from the Saltdogs’ bullpen.
The series continues Saturday at 6:00 p.m. CDT at Blue Cross Park. Southpaw Tasker Strobel (3-4, 2.59 ERA) will start for Winnipeg, while Lincoln will send former Goldeyes right-hander Jhon Vargas (2-3, 7.73 ERA) to the mound.
Fans can join me, Trevor Curl, for all the action live on CJNU 93.7 FM and online at cjnu.ca, with the pregame show beginning at 5:30 p.m. The game will also be broadcast in French on Envol 91 FM with Yanick LaRoche handling the play-by-play. The video stream of all Goldeyes games is available free of charge at AABaseball.TV.
Saturday is the ever-popular Bark in the Park game, where fans can bring their dogs to enjoy the game! The weekend wraps up with a Churchill Trip Giveaway on Sunday Family Fun Day.
For information about Single Game Tickets, Skysuites, and Group Packages, please visit Goldeyes.com/Tickets.
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