Bullpen can't save it for Walker, Goldeyes fall 7-5 to Gary

Starter Ace Walker ground it out for six full innings and left the Winnipeg Goldeyes with a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh, but this time the bullpen just couldn’t hold on.

Although Zach Baldwin got the Fish through the top of the seventh inning and the Goldeyes scored a run in the bottom of seventh, the Gary SouthShore RailCats came back with two in the eighth off Baldwin and three more in the ninth off Philip Roy and beat the Fish 7-5 in from of 5,189 at Canwest Park on Wednesday night.

With the win, Gary took the three-game series in Winnipeg, 2-1, and pulled to within a half a game of third-place Winnipeg. The Goldeyes are now 18-14, while the Railcats are 18-15.

“It was a tough game tonight,” said Goldeyes manager Rick Forney, as the Fish fell to 10-8 at home this season. “Gary was knocking on the door all game and they finally knocked it down with some crooked numbers in the eighth and the ninth.

“We had no answer for their left-handed hitting in this series and we sure didn’t have an answer tonight. They probably hit .500 from the left side of the plate. They really grind out at-bats and they get hits when they needed them.”

The Goldeyes pounded out 14 hits, but just couldn’t get the big knocks when they needed them. Wes Long had a pair of hits and scored a run; Juan Diaz went three-for-four, drove in three and hit his 10th home run of the season (the second in as many nights); Kevin West was two-for-five with an RBI and a run scored, Aharon Eggleston went two-for- five with two runs scored and an RBI; and Vince Harrison went three-for-four.

“We had a couple of opportunities in the first and second innings but two double plays wiped them out,” Forney said. “We had five hits in the first two innings and didn’t score. That really hurt us.

“In the end we just couldn’t hold on. The bullpen has been bending, not breaking. Tonight, it broke down.”

Thursday night, the Rockford RiverHawks come to Winnipeg to face the Goldeyes. Antony Bello (1-2, 3.55) will get the start for Winnipeg, Game time tonight is 7 p.m. and if you can’t make it to the park, the game will be shown live on Shaw TV Channel 9.