Adam Hall and the Manitoba Mosquitoes—the Winnipeg Goldeyes’ wildly successful alternate-identity persona—came out buzzing to build a commanding early lead en route to an 11-4 victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs at Blue Cross Park.
Swarming the downtown ballpark for a special one-night-only showcase, Manitoba’s offense exploded out of the gates, led by second baseman Hall who put together a stellar performance, going 3-for-4 from the plate with three runs scored.
Manitoba drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning when left fielder Keshawn Lynch lined a two-run single to left, bringing home shortstop Ray-Patrick Didder and Hall to open the scoring. Catcher Raphaël Pelletier followed immediately with a two-run double to right field, scoring Noah Marcelo and Lynch to make it 4-0. First baseman Kevin García capped off the five-run opening frame with a sacrifice fly to left, allowing Pelletier to cross from third.
The momentum continued into the bottom of the second:
Didder executed a clever delayed double steal to stretch the lead to 6-0.
Hall scored Manitoba’s seventh run of the contest when Marcelo reached safely on a fielding error.
Manitoba proved impossible to swat away, striking for four more runs in the bottom of the third. Didder blooped a two-run double to left-centre to drive in García and Roby Enríquez, before Marcelo doubled down the left-field line to bring home both Didder and Hall, extending the dominant cushion to 11-0.
Lincoln fight back as pitching staff seals win
Lincoln (29-37) finally found a breakthrough against Mosquitoes starter Ryo Kohigashi in the top of the fifth. Paul Myro single up the middle drove in Cam Phelts and Jairo Pomares to cut the deficit to 11-2, before Calyn Halvorson added a two-run double down the right-field line to make it 11-4.
Kohigashi exited just one out shy of qualifying for the win. The 28-year-old—who ranks second in the American Association with 79 strikeouts this season—allowed four runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings while striking out nine.
Reliever Arij Fransen (W, 1-2) combined with Willian Suárez and Sage Ferguson to pitch 4 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, bringing Manitoba’s pitching staff total to 14 strikeouts on the night.
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