Wingnuts head to American Association playoffs with home-field edge
The Wingnuts lost two games on the final day of the American Association regular season Monday, but still finished with home-field advantage in the playoffs.
The Wingnuts (61-39) begin postseason play on Wednesday evening at Sioux City, Iowa. The Wingnuts will play the first two games of the best-of-five series on the road. Game 3 will be Saturday night at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, and the fourth and fifth games, if necessary, will also be in Wichita.
The Wingnuts and Explorers met for one series this season, with Wichita winning 2 of 3 at Lawrence-Dumont in late June.
St. Paul faces Winnipeg in the other first-round series.
Laredo swept the Wingnuts 5-4 and 3-0 in a doubleheader Monday in Laredo, Texas.
Brent Clevlen and Matt Chavez each hit home runs in the opener.
Laredo starter Troy Marks threw five shutout innings in the second game.
FIRST GAME
Wichita | ab | r | h | bi | Laredo | ab | r | h | bi |
Stringer 2b | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | Nieves 3b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Cox 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Martinz cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Clevlen dh | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | Phipps rf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Mttlsdt lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Chavez c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Chavez 1b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Pulfer ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
VnStrttn rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Rynlds dh | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kain cf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Metzger lf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Dean c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Posso 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Vargas ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Norris 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 32 | 4 | 12 | 4 | Totals | 26 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
Wichita | 300 | 000 | 1 | — | 4 |
Laredo | 003 | 110 | x | — | 5 |
E: Stringer. DP: Wichita 1. LOB: Wichita 10, Laredo 4. 2B: Mittelstaedt, Phipps. HR: Clevlen (17), Chavez (16). SB: Stringer (22), Reynolds (13). CS: Clevlen, Kain.
Wichita | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Leesman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
EMedina L,6-6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Laredo | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Dodson | 2 1/3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Martinez W,3-2 | 1 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
DReynolds | 1 2/3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Inman S,17 | 1 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
HBP: Dean by Leesman, B. Reynolds by D Reynolds. WP: Medina.
T — 2:21.
SECOND GAME
Wichita | ab | r | h | bi | Laredo | ab | r | h | bi |
Stringer 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Nieves 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Cox 3b | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | Martinez cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Clevlen dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Phipps rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Mittlstt lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ZChavz c | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
MChavz 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Pulfer ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
VnStrtn cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Morrisn dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Salgado rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Metzger lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
MMdna c | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Posso 1b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Vargas ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Norris 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 27 | 0 | 8 | 0 | Totals | 26 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
Wichita | 000 | 000 | 0 | — | 0 |
Laredo | 000 | 102 | x | — | 3 |
E: MChavez 2. DP: Wichita 1, Laredo 1. LOB: Wichita 6, Laredo 6. 2b: MMedina 2, Posso. HR: Phipps (24), Pulfer (9).
Wichita | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Kane L,2-1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Reed | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Laredo | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Marks W,8-4 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
De La Cruz | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Pollorena S,3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
T— 1:41.
This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Wingnuts head to American Association playoffs with home-field edge."