by Sam Reeves
Oconomowoc, Wis. – Spurred by two Demetrius Sims triples and a Marcus Chiu home run, the Lake Country DockHounds snapped the Sioux City Explorers’ eight-game winning streak with a 10-6 victory Tuesday.
After DockHounds starter Marco Becerril allowed two singles and walked two batters (including one who scored), the Explorers leapt out to a 2-0 lead following a Wilfredo Gimenez sacrifice fly. Gimenez, facing his former team, went 1-for-3 with a single and an RBI.
Becerril went 5 innings and gave up five hits, and three runs. All three were earned. He walked four batters and struck out one.
In the bottom half of the first inning, Sims tripled with two outs and was driven in on a Marcus Chiu single to make the score 2-1. Lake Country added two more runs in the third inning after another Sims triple, which scored a run, and an RBI single by Nick Banks.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, after three Sioux City runs gave them the lead, the Hounds responded with five more. Marcus Chiu led off with a home run to right field. Dustin Woodcock walked and later scored on a double to left by Brian Rey. After Tyler Hill singled and Blake Tiberi reached on an error, Thomas Jones hit a double down the left field line to score them both.
Keisy Portorreal, Matt Mullenbach, Brady Kais and Jojanse Torres all shut out the Explorers in relief as they held Sioux City scoreless for the final three innings of the game.
The DockHounds added two insurance runs in the 8th and Torres went 1-2-3 to close the door, ending the Explorers eight-game winning streak.
With the win, the DockHounds improved to 25-28 overall. Sioux City dropped to 29-26. The teams will face off in a rubber match tomorrow evening at 6:35 from Wisconsin Brewing Company Park.