SIOUX FALLS, SD -- Sioux Falls Canaries’ starting pitcher Ben Moore will have to wait another night to get his franchise-leading 54th win, as a rough first inning let the Gary SouthShore RailCats walk away with a 13-5 win at the Birdcage Tuesday night.

Moore and the rest of the Birds (18-26) couldn’t quite recover from a four-run opening inning from the RailCats and went on to lose for the first time in six games at home.

“It was a tough one,” said pitching coach Mike Meyer.  “We didn’t get off to a great start and the four spot in the first was tough.”

A.J. Kirby-Jones provided one of the lone bright spots for the Canaries, hitting his third home run in two games and his team-leading ninth of the season.

The RailCats had Moore figured out Tuesday, as they tagged him for 9 earned runs in 7.1 innings while only striking out three times.

“They (Gary SouthShore) have a good-hitting club over there,” said Meyer.  “They don’t strike out very much and they make you make three pitches against them to get them out.”

Sioux Falls made a valiant effort early, responding to the ugly first half-inning of the game with back-to-back home runs from Kirby-Jones and Chris Duffy to chop the lead down the middle to 4-2.

The closest the Canaries would get came in the fourth inning when right fielder Steve Tinoco launched a shot over the right field fence for a solo homerun, his third dinger of the year.

It would be all RailCats from there, as the team from Michael Jackson’s hometown scored nine straight runs on the Canaries to seal their 24th win of the season.  The sudden outburst of opposing runs was a shocker for Sioux Falls, who entered the night allowing no more than three runs their last four games.

Gary SouthShore starting pitcher Dustin Crenshaw had little trouble containing the Canary bats, permitting 3 earned runs on 8 hits in 8 innings.

“He (Crenshaw) left a few balls up early in the game, and we took advantage of that with the three home runs,” said Meyer.  “But he settled in and he started using that cutter.”

The Canaries attempted to conjure a rally in the bottom of the ninth by getting two on the board to get it to 13-5, but that would be it for the night.

The Canaries will hope to take the advantage in the series against the RailCats Wednesday night at 7:05 pm.

 

Ben Moore, Sioux Falls Canaries
Sioux Falls Canaries
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Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries

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