Kansas City 6 Chicago 4
Ryan Grotjohn launched a two-run homer in the seventh to give the Monarchs (54-25) a lead they would not relinquish in a 6-4 win over the Dogs (47-31) on Friday night. Both teams got a run in the third before Kansas City took a lead in the fourth with Casey Gillaspie hitting a solo homer. In the sixth, Ryan Lidge hit a two-run shot to give Chicago the lead. But Grotjohn’s homer gave KC the lead for good and Morgan McCollough added insurance with a two-run shot in the ninth. The Dogs got a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth from Anfernee Grier.
Sioux Falls 5 Fargo-Moorhead 4
Jabari Henry hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth as the Canaries (29-49) came back from a three-run deficit to edge the RedHawks (46-33) 5-4 on Friday night. Fargo-Moorhead took the lead in the third inning thanks to a two-run single by Manny Boscan and added a run in the fourth for a 4-1 lead, but Sioux Falls tied the game in the fifth on a three-run homer by Shamoy Christopher. That remained the score until Henry’s decisive swing of the bat in the eighth.
Milwaukee 6 Houston 1
Ryan Zimmerman (7 IP, 5 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K) shined on the mound and as the Milkmen (48-30) beat the Apollos (12-65) by a 6-1 score on Friday evening. After Jordan Pontious opened the scoring in the first for Houston with a solo homer, Milwaukee responded with a three-run bottom half, highlighted by a two-run single by Trey Martin. The lead would extend to 6-1 in the fourth thanks to a pair of singles by Adam Brett Walker II and David Washington.
Winnipeg 8 Kane County 6
A thirteen-hit attack, including a Kyle Martin solo homer, was enough to turn around an early hole as the Goldeyes (39-37) got by the Cougars (37-41) by an 8-6 count on Friday night. Jeffrey Baez doubled in the third for a 2-0 lead for Kane County, but Winnipeg scored in the next five innings, starting with Martin’s homer in the fourth. Max Murphy drove home two in the fifth on a single but Baez made it 5-3 with a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth. In the seventh, the Goldeyes took the lead for good with a tiebreaking single by Logan Hill.
Gary SouthShore 3 Lincoln 2
Thomas Walraven hit a second-inning solo homer and the Railcats (32-47) never trailed in a 3-2 win over the Saltdogs (42-36) on Friday night at Haymarket Park. Walraven’s homer opened the scoring, and Gary added to the lead in the fifth when Jose Mercado doubled home Alec Olund. Justin Byrd hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Lincoln deficit to one. Mercado scored on a sac fly in the eighth for insurance and Yanio Perez singled Byrd home in the bottom half, but the Saltdogs couldn’t get the tying run across.
Cleburne 7 Sioux City 6
The Railroaders (42-35) gave away an early 5-0 lead, only to score twice in the ninth to defeat the Explorers (40-39) 7-6 on Friday night. Ramon Hernandez singled home a run and later scored in the first for Cleburne, and after Hernandez hit another run-scoring single in the fourth, it was 5-0. But Sioux City got homers by Jose Sermo (two-run) and Seamus Curran (solo) in a four-run fourth and took a 6-5 lead in the fifth on an error. But the Railroaders got two in the ninth on a Hernandez single and an error to secure the win after a ninth-inning delay due to a power outage in the stadium.