Great Pitching Performance Wasted in 2-1 Loss to Gary

Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Rick Forney made no excuses. The Goldeyes squandered “a fantastic” pitching performance by starter Mark Holliman and two rookie relievers in a 2-1 loss to the visiting Gary SouthShore RailCats at CanWest Park on Monday night.

“Our pitching was fantastic tonight,” said Forney after the game. “Chad (reliever Benefield) made one mistake. He hung a slider to a good hitter (Tanner Townsend) and he hit it out. But we didn’t lose this game because a rookie reliever made one mistake.

“It’s the same thing every game. We’re struggling to have good at bats. I feel that too many of us are giving up our at bats way too early. But we’ll keep grinding away and we’ll get back at it tomorrow night.”

With the loss, the Goldeyes fell to 17-13 on the season, third in the Northern League, just 2 ½-games back of first-place Fargo.

It was a frustrating loss for the Fish, a team with traditionally good hitters, who have been in some dreadful funks. Wes Long, who went into the game leading the NL in hitting at .356, had a rare zero-for-five night and watched his average drop to .341; Dee Brown went zero-for-four; and Josh Asanovich, who went into the game hitting just .180, went zero-for-three and dropped to .175.

In total, the Goldeyes had only five hits and scored their only run without an RBI. Aharon Eggleston singled, went to second on a passed ball, went to third on a fly ball to right off the bat of Juan Diaz, and scored on a wild pitch.

Meanwhile, the Goldeyes pitchers were very good. Starter Holliman pitched six full innings, allowed only one run on seven hits and dropped his earned run average to 1.88. Benefield pitched 1.2 innings and gave up the home run to Townsend – and nothing else. Rookie Casey Hodges pitched an inning and a third of hitless baseball to finish the game.

“We got two good pitching performances from two rookie right-handers tonight,” Forney said. “We’ll take that with us into Tuesday night’s game.”

Tuesday night, the Goldeyes play Gary in Game 2 of this three-game set. Chris Salamida (3-2, 3.26 ERA) will get the start for the Fish.