Moore Leads Canaries Back To Win Column With 10-5 Victory Over Saints

ST PAUL, MN -- Scoring seven unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth innings, the Sioux Falls Canaries (7-18) bats exploded Tuesday night and ace Ben Moore did the rest leading the Canaries back into the win column with a 10-5 victory in St. Paul over the Saints (17-9).

Moore (2-1) turned in another impressive outing and earned his first win since opening night by going seven innings and allowing four runs (two earned) while striking out nine and not walking a batter.  The longball hurt him early as Devin Thaut and Angelo Songco hit solo homeruns, but Moore was precise the rest of the night.

With the Canaries trailing 4-1 after six innings, it was time for the bats to respond.  Stephen Branca led off the seventh with a single and Saints starter Cole Nelson was relieved by Mikey Mehlich.  Kevin Dultz smashed the first pitch he saw from Mehlich over the fence and the Canaries were back within one, 4-3.  Steve Tinoco and Brandon Jones followed with base hits to set up Shelby Ford, who tied the game at 4 with his RBI single.  With the bases loaded, Jones would score on Chris Duffy's groundball to give the Canaries their first lead and Carloz Mendez added a sacrifice fly for good measure and it was 6-4 Canaries by inning's end.

The Canaries added some insurance in the eighth inning, fueled by Jones' RBI triple.  Jones then scored on AJ Kirby-Jones' single.

Steve Tinoco drove in two more in the ninth on his double to give the Canaries 10 runs on the night.

Josh Giles came in for Moore to start the eighth and allowed a run, but made his biggest pitches when he had to.  With runnrers at first and second with one out and the tying run at the plate, Giles retired the next two batters to end the inning.  Alan DeRatt threw a scoreless ninth to preserve a 10-5 win for the Canaries.

The rubber game of the series will take place Wednesday night with the Canaries throwing lefthander Matt Wickswat, who allowed just one run in five innings in his last start against Gary.  First pitch is at 7:05 PM.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries