LINCOLN — Ryan Wiggins homered and drove in six, Kevin McGovern fanned eight as the Saltdogs (20-29) blew out the Grand Prairie AirHogs (18-32) 11-3 in front of 2,724 fans on a sweltering Sunday evening at Haymarket Park.
McGovern (3-3) pitched six innings, allowing a run on six hits while striking out eight (which matched a season-high for a Saltdogs hurler) and walking one to earn the win.
With the ‘Dogs leading 3-1 in the top of the fifth, Brian Joynt made a potentially lead-saving catch at the wall on a deep drive by Brian Myrow with two runners on to end the inning.
After Joynt’s home-run-robbing-catch, the ‘Dogs quickly scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-1.
Wiggins blew the game open with a towering three-run homer to left in the sixth to extend the Lincoln lead to 8-1. The rookie catcher finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run and six RBI – a new single-game high for a Saltdogs player in 2015.
Smith went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. The third-year Saltdogs slugger finished the week with three home runs and 13 RBI.
Conor Spink worked a perfect seventh inning of relief and finished his week by throwing 5 2/3 total innings without allowing a base runner.
Logan Norris (2-4) yielded five runs in five innings to suffer the loss as the heat index reached as high as 111 degrees.
The Saltdogs have now won five in a row for the second time this year, and will go for the four-game sweep of Grand Prairie Monday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. RHP Shairon Martis (3-1, 3.41) will face RHP Blake Oliver (4-3, 4.31). Online coverage begins at 1 p.m. on www.kfornow.com.