It took just one big inning, but for the Winnipeg Goldeyes that inning was absolutely huge.
The Goldeyes scored 10 runs in the bottom of the eighth on Sunday afternoon, a rally that was capped off by home runs from Justin Justice, Wes Long and Kevin West, as the Goldeyes beat the Schaumburg Flyers 12-9 and won the three-game weekend set with the Flyers, 2-1.
Trailing 5-2 heading into the eighth, the Goldeyes bats exploded against three Schaumburg relievers. Wes Long led off with a single, Juan Diaz drew a walk, Kevin West doubled home Long, Luis Alen single home Diaz and then the lefthanded-hitting Justice took a pitch from Schaumburg's Jim Popp and drove it the opposite way over the leftfield wall to make the score 7-5.
But the Fish weren't done yet. After Popp retired Vince Harrison and Dee Brown, Aharon Eggleston doubled and Price Kendall walked. Popp then served up a wild pitch and Eggleston scored all the way from second. Two pitches later, Long drove a high fly ball over the leftfield wall to drive in two more runs. Then Diaz singled and West took the first pitch he saw from reliever Ben Reeser over the Shaw TV camera stand in straightaway centrefield as the Goldeyes put up a 10-spot for the first time since Rick Forney took over as manager, and built a 12-5 lead.
But to the Flyers' credit, it still wasn't over. In the top of the ninth, Brandon Newton doubled with the bases loaded against reliever Corey Bass to make the score 12-8 and make the fans nervous. Travis Brown then doubled to score Newton and that brought the tying run into the on-deck circle. But Bass got Joey Gomes to ground out to short and the Fish had a 12-9 victory.
"That was quite an inning," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney with a smile. "It reminded me a little of that game in Fargo back in 1997 (when Forney was a player with the Goldeyes) when we put up 17 runs in one inning against Fargo and won 22-5.
"You know, I really thought there were going to be a lot of runs scored today," Forney added. "The wind was blowing out and it was a beautiful day. It was a perfect day for a hitter and it took us awhile, but we got the job done in the eighth. The guys really came through in that eighth inning and showed what they were made of."
The Flyers came out and built a 5-2 lead against starter Anthony Bello, by scoring two in the first after two were out when Joey Gomes singled and Ron Bourquin hit a two-run homer. Schaumburg scored two more in the fourth when Joe Nowicki hit a single with two-out that drove home Gomes and Josh Burrus and then Schaumburg wrapped their part of the scoring when Burrus scored from third on a wild pitch by Bello.
Winnipeg scored its first two runs in the fourth when Long walked, went to second on a single by Diaz and scored on a double by West that sent Diaz to third. Diaz scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Alen.
"I thought Antony threw great today," said Forney. "We got contributions from a lot of guys today. Kevin West hit a long home run, Wes (Long) hit a long home run and Justin (Justice) got us a real big hit with that three-run homer. That gave us the lead. That was a big, big hit."
West and Long were sensational on Sunday. Long went three-for-four with a homer, two singles, three runs scored and two driven in while West went three-for-five with a homer, two doubles, two runs scored and four driven in. West now has 46 RBI and has moved into third place in the league. He's also batting .330 while Long is now hitting .336. Both are in the top five in hitting.
The 29-31 Goldeyes will head out on the road to open a three-game series with Rockford on Tuesday. They'll play four games in Lake County (including a doubleheader on Friday) next weekend and then finish the road trip with three in Gary next week. The Goldeyes next home game is Friday, Aug. 6 against first-place Kansas City.
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Winnipeg Goldeyes: July 19, 2010 Highlightsby WinnipegGoldeyes524 views
hopefully this game will knock the goldeyes out of this loosing skid, but i'm glad they won :)
MarikasRoom 1 year ago