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Smokin-hot Casey Haerther kept hitting line drives, while Matt Jackson continued to be a presence on the mound as the Winnipeg Goldeyes won their fourth straight game and swept the Grand Prairie AirHogs right out of Shaw Park on Thursday afternoon. Brian Dawkins Jersey . Jackson threw five full innings of two-hit, shutout baseball before a leg injury sent him to the showers. However, Haerther went four-for-four with three singles and a double, three runs scored and two RBI and capped a sensational week as the Fish beat the Hogs 5-2. With the win, the Goldeyes improved to 18-9 on the season, first in the American Associations North Division. They won their fourth straight game and swept Grand Prairie in this three-game set with wins of 7-6, 8-1 and 4-1. The Goldeyes also improved their home record to 6-4 this season. For Haerther, it was an incredible series. He went 11-for-13 (.846) with three homers, six runs scored and nine runs batted in. His average is now a monstrous .391, best in the American Association. "You have to ride these things as long as you can because they dont come around very often," Haerther said. "Im seeing the ball real good right now. Im also getting good pitches to hit. Im swinging at the pitches I choose to hit and Im not swinging at the pitches the pitchers want me to hit. Im getting deeper into counts and Im not afraid to hit with two strikes. It almost feels like youre not trying. Im just gonna keep doing what Im doing." The Goldeyes, who pounded out 14 hits, opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the second. Donnie Webb led off with a single, stole second and scored on a base hit by Haerther. Haerther came around to score when Jake Blackwood was safe on a two-out error to Grand Prairie shortstop Jimmy Mojica. Winnipeg added two more in the sixth, as Webb again singled and stole second, Haerther singled and eventually came around to score on a single by Tyler Kuhn. The AirHogs answered with a run in the eighth as Palmer Karr Jr. singled off Brendan Lafferty to drive home Mitch Abeita and then they added another turn in the ninth off Kyle Bellamy, but it was too little, too late. The Goldeyes put it out of reach in the bottom of the eighth, as Haerther doubled and scored on a single by Kuhn, who had four hits himself and drove in a pair. His batting average is now .388, good for second in the league.Jackson (4-2, 3.09, ERA) got the win for Winnipeg, while Grand Prairie starter Shawn Spainhoward (0-4, 6.67) suffered the loss. There was no save. The Goldeyes will now open a huge intra-divisional series on Friday night at Shaw Park as the St. Paul Saints come to town for a three-game set. Kyle Anderson (2-1, 0.91 ERA) will get the start for Winnipeg, while Nick Barnese (2-1, 4.39 ERA) will take to the bump for St. Paul. Game time Friday night is 7 p.m., Saturday night the action starts at 6 p.m. and on Sunday afternoon, first pitch is at 1:35. Jerome Brown Jersey . More than a month after signing the free agent centre, Bynum is expected to make his debut with Indiana on Tuesday night against Boston.Darren Sproles Jersey . The game has been rescheduled for Tuesday at 4:05 p.m. Tickets for Monday will be honoured Tuesday. The forecast Monday calls for heavy rain throughout the day. PITTSBURGH -- Evgeni Malkin woke up Sunday morning, texted Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma and told him he was good to go after missing nine games because of an ailing left leg. Sure looked like it. The Russian star scored twice and added an assist, helping the Penguins rally past Winnipeg 6-5 to extend their home winning streak to 12 straight. James Neal added two goals and Jussi Jokinen scored for the third time in the last two games as Pittsburghs second line kept the Penguins in it until Matt Niskanens slap shot with 7:22 remaining won it. "Its always a big boost when you get a guy like (Malkin) back," Neal said. "Myself and Jussi were obviously excited. We try to feed off that. It looked like he didnt miss a beat out there. He was his normal self." So were the Penguins after an atypical start. Pittsburgh trailed by two early but came roaring back to remain unbeaten at home since Nov. 13. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots, including three sprawling saves in the final minute. Bylsma won his 232nd game with Pittsburgh, moving into a tie with Eddie Johnston for the most victories in franchise history. "They got up on us," Bylsma said. "But there has been with this team, finding a lot of different ways to win hockey games." The Penguins almost always do against Winnipeg. The Jets have lost each of their last 13 trips to Pittsburgh. Evander Kane had two goals and an assist for Winnipeg. Jacob Trouba, Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele also scored for the Jets, who remained winless in Pittsburgh since 2006. Al Montoya made 33 saves, but couldnt make an early 2-0 lead stand up. "Thats one of the most talented teams in the league," Winnipegs Olli Jokinen said. "You cant try to outscore them. You have to try to find a way to play the good defence and make sure you get the puck on their goal line and on a few goals they made us look pretty bad." Malkin did his part, hardly looking rusty in his first game in three weeks. His 10th goal of the season put Pittsburgh on the board and his 11th tied it at 5 midway through the third period as the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins extended their home dominance. Pittsburghs 12-game run at Consol Energy Center matches that 12-game run the club put together between Feb. Malcolm Jenkins Eagles Jersey. 22-March 30, 2013. This one, however, was harder than most. The Jets, less than 24 hours removed from a dismal 4-1 loss to Boston, hardly looked like a team overwhelmed by Pittsburghs home-ice advantage or the return of Malkin and Penguins defenceman Kris Letang, who missed 10 games with an elbow injury. Winnipeg took the lead just 1:47 into the game as Trouba pounced on an Olli Jokinen rebound and flipped it into the open net. Troubas fourth goal of the season also stopped a streak of 438:19 of game time in which the Penguins had been either in the lead or tied at home, a streak that dates to Nov. 27. Pittsburgh had a chance to even it late in the first period when Sidney Crosby was interfered with on a breakaway. His penalty shot was knocked out of harms way by Montoya, leaving Crosby without a penalty shot goal during his career (0 for 4). Scheifele made it 2-0 with just 4 seconds left in the first on a knuckler that Fleury couldnt get a handle on. All it did was set the stage for a furious second period in which the teams combined to score seven times on just 24 shots. A Winnipeg turnover led to a nasty wrist shot from Malkin for his first goal since Dec. 14. Neal followed by scoring twice in 34 seconds to give Pittsburgh the lead. The Jets, however, would not go away. Kane beat Fleury twice, beating Fleury with a beautiful backhand on a breakaway then emerging from a mad scramble to flip the puck over Fleury with 17 seconds left in the second to put Pittsburghs home streak in serious jeopardy. For a few minutes anyway. Malkin tied it at 5 by stuffing in a rebound 8:29 into the third period and Niskanen put the Penguins in front for good with a one-timer from the point that eluded Montoya. Fleury made a pair of big stops in the final minute, including getting a glove on a wrist shot by Scheifele with 3 seconds remaining to push his win total to an NHL-best 24. NOTES: Bylsma is 232-104-26 in four-plus seasons with the Penguins. Johnston went 232-224-80 in two different stints with Pittsburgh. ... The Penguins begin a three-game trip through Western Canada on Tuesday in Vancouver. ... The Jets finished their three-game East Coast swing 0-3. ... Crosby finished with one assist to extend his home point streak to 16 games. ' ' ' |
