ROSEMONT, Ill. — Kelly Dugan and Jordan Dean homered, Jake Dahlberg dominated, and the Chicago Dogs defeated the Sioux City Explorers, 3-1, on Saturday night at Impact Field.
Dahlberg hurled a spectacular performance in his second straight quality start. The lefty from Vancouver, Washington surrendered only four hits, walked none and struck out six over seven shutout frames.
With the win, the Dogs took possession of the best record in the American Association at 10-4 (.714).
The Dogs offense picked up right where it left off with two long home runs to open the scoring. Dugan launched a 1-0 pitch off of Explorers starter Taylor Jordan (L, 0-3) over the right field wall for his second long ball of the season. Three batters later, Dean doubled Chicago’s lead with a solo shot to left, also his second of the year.
Dugan continued his hot night at the plate with a double in the fourth inning. On the next at-bat, Victor Roache lined a base hit up the middle to drive home Dugan, pushing the Dogs’ lead to 3-0.
An efficient outing from the Chicago bullpen kept the X’s at bay. Brandon Shimo entered the game in the eighth and faced two batters, striking out one and walking one. Rich Mascheri took over from there, forcing a strikeout and a groundout to end the frame.
Josh Goossen-Brown worked the ninth, allowing only a sacrifice fly, for his third save of the season.
The Dogs will send Austin Wright (0-2) to the mound on Sunday for the series finale against the Explorers. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. at Impact Field. Jason Garcia (3-0) is set to go for Sioux City.
Fans can tune in to The Chicago Dogs Baseball Network to watch every Dogs home game. For more updates, follow @TheChicagoDogs on social media and use the hashtag #TakeABite.