Winnipeg Goldeyes: August 16, 2011 Highlights

It was a home run that set it up, but a single that won it.

Wes Long hit a three-run homer in the first inning to answer the St. Paul Saints and tie the game at 3-3 and then Kody Kaiser singled home Lou Ott with the eventual winning run in the second, as the Winnipeg Goldeyes took an early lead and hung on to beat the visiting St. Paul Saints 4-3 in front of 5,562 spectators at Shaw Park.

With the win, the Goldeyes improved to 52-36 on the season and pulled four games ahead of the second-place Saints in the race for first in the American Association's North Division.

"St. Paul scored three runs in that first inning and if we'd allowed them to build some momentum, there might have been a different outcome tonight," said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney. "But we answered with three of our own in the first and by answering quickly we were able to get into the A part of their bullpen early. We saw (Kyle) Foster, (Caleb) Thielbar and (Tyler) Walker tonight and that might have an effect on what St. Paul is able to do tomorrow."

St. Paul opened the scoring in the top of the first when Ole Sheldon hit a solo homer, Jason Cooper doubled and then Richard Mercado hit a two-run bomb.

But Winnipeg answered in the second when leadoff man Price Kendall was hit by a pitch, Brian Myrow walked and Long hit a three-run home run -- a fastball on a 3-2 count -- to tie the game at 3-3.

Then, in the second inning, Ott walked, Justin Bass walked, Kendall walked and then Kaiser singled to drive home Ott with what turned out to be the winning run.

Starter Isaac Hess (7-3, 4.25 ERA) got the victory, while St. Paul starter Kyle Carr (1-2, 4.47 ERA) suffered the loss. Jamie Vermilyea (2-3 1.75 ERA) struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 13th save of the season.

"Good pitching won it tonight," said Forney. "We let them hang around too long. We left a lot of guys on base tonight (11 in total), but our bullpen was really sharp. Aaron Cook was good, Ian Thomas had a nice sharp fastball tonight. Aaron Hartsock was very good in the eighth and Vermilyea got it done in the ninth. Isaac Hess battled and gave us five innings and we got the job done."

Wednesday night, the Goldeyes and Saints will play the finale of this important three-game series. Game time is 7 p.m. and can be heard live with Paul Edmonds on Sports Radio 1290 or seen live on Shaw TV with Scott Taylor and Jim Toth.

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• Saint Paul Saints
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• Minor League Baseball
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