Mankato, Minn. \u2013 The Mankato MoonDogs rode the bats of Kyle Knudson and Brian Haar early on against Thunder Bay Thursday, as the Dogs improved their sterling home record to 9-2 as they topped Thunder Bay 6-0 at Franklin Rogers Park.<\/p>\n
Knudson (Minnesota) finished the game 2-4 with one run, a double and two RBI. Haar finished 1-3 with a home run and three RBI. <\/p>\n
The MoonDogs (14-7) did all their damage in the first and third innings, putting up four in the first and two in the latter. The first four batters of the game reached for the MoonDogs, as Knudson came up with a two-run single to highlight a big first.<\/p>\n
Haar (San Diego), who came into the game without an extra-base hit in 30 at-bats, cracked his first homer as a MoonDog, knocking in Knudson with a towering blast to left center for the final MoonDog runs and a 6-0 lead. <\/p>\n
James Wise (Washington State) started the game and earned the win (1-0), throwing six innings and striking out eight while allowing just five hits. Chris Garrison (Oregon) made his first appearance as a MoonDog by throwing two innings, and Jimmy Patterson (Central Arizona) hurled the ninth, as the staff combined for their fourth shutout of the season. <\/p>\n
Randy Mower (St. Joseph\u2019s) settled down nicely after the third, going seven innings for the Border Cats (4-17) allowing just two hits after giving up the six runs. He took the loss falling to 1-2 on the summer.<\/p>\n
With the win, the MoonDogs moved two games ahead of second place Rochester, as they lost earlier in the day to Duluth. <\/p>\n
The MoonDogs, now 3-0 against the Border Cats, will play their final game at home against the Cats tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. It will be Summer St. Patrick\u2019s Day at the ballpark, as plenty of green and Irish cheer will be on display.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mankato, Minn. \u2013 The Mankato MoonDogs rode the bats of Kyle Knudson and Brian Haar early on against Thunder Bay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n