FARGO, North Dakota – Pitching woes by the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks allowed an early deficit and an eventual 7-2 defeat at the hands of the Sioux City Explorers on a breezy Sunday afternoon at Newman Outdoor Field
Sioux City jumped ahead early for the second time this series as they homered to lead off the game and pieced together five more hits and two walks to score five runs in the first two innings. Fargo-Moorhead responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the third as an RBI single by Correlle Prime scored B.J. Lopez to make it a 5-1 game after three innings played.
Following the two frames of crooked numbers, RedHawks starter Garrett Alexander showed consistency, limiting the Explorers to a couple more hits before exiting the game in the top of the fifth inning. The book closed on him after he pitched 4.1 innings and allowed five earned runs off eight hits, five walks and two strikeouts.
The Explorers added a run each in the top of the sixth and seventh inning to extend their lead to six runs before Evan Alexander hit his seventh home run of the season over the right field wall in the bottom of the eighth inning which brought the game to its final score after neither team put any runs up in the ninth.
With the loss, the RedHawks drop to a 30-26 record, but remain in second place in the AAPB West Division standings, holding onto a half game lead ahead of the Lincoln Saltdogs, who sit in third place.
Fargo-Moorhead now have a few days off for the All-Star break where they will send eight players as well as their coaching staff to Milwaukee. Upon their return, the RedHawks will welcome the Kane County Cougars into Newman Outdoor Field on Thursday, July 20 with the first pitch scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
