June 11: Long’s Big Hit, Quality Pitching, Give Goldeyes Series Split

Mark Holliman did not deserve to take the loss and Wes Long knew it.

So in the bottom of the seventh, with one out and runners on second and third, the Winnipeg Goldeyes leading hitter delivered. Long drilled a solid single to leftfield to score Vince Harrison and Josh Asanovich with the tying and eventual winning runs as Winnipeg came from behind to beat the Kansas City T-Bones 2-1 in a cold, damp thriller at Canwest Park.

On just a miserable day for baseball, the Goldeyes got a tremendous start from Holliman who left the game after six complete innings having allowed only one run on two hits. In fact, Holliman paid dearly for the only mistake he made, leaving a high fastball out over the plate that Kansas City’s hottest hitter, Ray Sadler, smacked over the left-centerfield fence.

It looked like Holliman might take the loss, but Long came up with the game’s big hit in the seventh and then Ian Thomas, who got the win and improved to 4-0 on the season, and Philip Roy, who picked up his fourth save, shut own the T-Bones for the final three innings as Winnipeg split a four-game series with first-place Kansas City.

"It was my first at bat off the relief pitcher (Drew Graham), a guy ‘d never seen before," said Long after the game. "He threw me a fastball in the middle of the zone on the first pitch and I took it, so that’s what I looked for on his second pitch. He threw exactly the same pitch and I was able to get the barrel of the bat on it and hit it into leftfield.

"That was a huge win for us," Long added. "Especially after the whooping they laid on us on Monday (Kansas City won Game 1 of the series 12-3 on Monday and then won Game 2, 7-2). We were able to pull off a win in the second game last night and this was really just a huge win. When you’re going out on the road to play nine games in 10 days, it’s really nice to get on the bus coming off a win."

The Goldeyes will play three games in Schaumburg this weekend and then move on to play three in Lake County and three in Joliet before returning home to play Gary on Student Night -- Monday night, June 21.