Canaries Drop Series Finale In Gary

GARY, IN -- The Sioux Falls Canaries fell short in the series finale Thursday night, losing 7-6 on a walkoff hit and denying Ben Moore a chance to grab hold of the Canaries career wins record.  Four Canaries errors led to two unearned runs and proved to be the difference in the game.

The bats were hot early, with Steve Tinoco and Brandon Jones leading off the first with back-to-back doubles.  Carlos Mendez later added an RBI single and the Canaries held a 2-0 advantage in the 1st.

An error cost the Canaries an unearned run in the 2nd.  Ryan Brockett's sacrifice fly cut the lead to 2-1, but Chris Valencia delivered an RBI double in the 3rd for the Canaries to put them up 3-1.

The bottom of the 3rd proved to be costly for the Canaries as Gary pushed across four runs on six hits, capped by Josh Romanski's two-run triple.  Romanski had 6 RBI in the final three games of the series.

Moore would keep the RailCats off the board in the 4th and 5th, but his day was done after five innings.  The Canaries ace allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits while striking out three and walking one.

The Canaries bullpen was solid in relief of Moore.  Joe Testa allowed just an unearned run in the 6th and John Brebbia tossed a scoreless 7th and 8th.  That allowed the bats to chip away at a 6-3 deficit.  Two runs came across in the 7th on a single from Jones and an RBI groundout from AJ Kirby-Jones.  The Canaries brought the tying run in on Kirby-Jones's sacrifice fly following singles from Sam Lind, Tinoco and Jones to load the bases.

With the game tied at 6, Alan DeRatt was unable to keep the RailCats off the board to send the game to extra innings.  A leadoff walk to Cody Bishop, just the second in 12.1 innings this season for DeRatt, set the tone.  Former Canary Drew Muren sacrificed Bishop to second and Bishop would come around to score on the walkoff single from Danny Pulfer.

Kevin Brahney earned the win for the RailCats after blowing a save in the top of the 9th. Brahney improves to 3-0.  DeRatt drops to 0-3.

The Birds are back in action Friday night when they welcome St. Paul to town.  Game time is 7:05 PM.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries