Goldeyes win franchise record 13th consecutive game

The 2026 Winnipeg Goldeyes are swimming in uncharted waters.

A 7-5 comeback victory over the Chicago Dogs on Thursday night at Blue Cross Park was no ordinary affair. It marked the 12th straight win by the club, establishing a record for the 32-year-old organization.

“A little bit surreal,” manager Logan Watkins told the Free Press inside the clubhouse.

Historic, too. And maybe a bit shocking.

The Goldeyes have gone from a middling 27-31 team fighting to remain in the playoff race to an elite 39-31 outfit that suddenly looks like the cream of the American Association crop.

“I told them before this series, ‘Don’t get comfortable winning, because maybe you start to take it for granted,’” said Watkins.

“There’s still a process you have to go through and play the game right every day and with a sense of urgency. They’ve done that and hopefully we can keep it rolling. Winning is hard.”

And has the club ever kept on rolling.

The Fish took their historic win streak on the road Friday night and opened a three-game weekend series against the Lincoln Saltdogs down in Nebraska. The Goldeyes scored a 6-4 victory in the opener to extend its franchise-record with a 13th win.

The Goldeyes have been making it look relatively easy of late, with several lopsided victories under their belts. And it appeared like they might roll to another one Thursday at home as they raced out to a 3-0 lead after one inning to the delight of the 3,434 in attendance.

But the determined Dogs, who sit dead last in the 12-team loop with a 21-50 record, bit back and eventually grabbed a 4-3 advantage through six innings.

No concern for the confident Goldeyes, who quickly tied the game on a one-out sacrifice fly from shortstop Ray-Patrick Didder and then regained the lead — this time for good — when third baseman Ramon Bramasco belted a two-run shot that just cleared the right field wall in the bottom of the seventh.

His fourth homer of the season was his biggest, sending these Goldeyes into the record books.

“I think we had a lot of good swings,” Bramasco said of Thursday night’s win at home. “I was just trying to get a base hit, not even a home run, and it just happened.”

This sizzling summer surge by the Goldeyes has been a true team effort, with seemingly a different hero or two every night. That’s the product of a deep lineup which seems to have finally shaken a funk that began with an 0-4 start to the year followed by some .500 baseball over the next couple months.

“That’s a testament to our lineup, one through nine. Any given day it’s someones turn to show up. (Thursday) was me,” said Bramasco, who has never been on a team at any level to win a dozen consecutive outings.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “That’s just playing good baseball. When something goes wrong you pick someone up. Whether that’s a pitcher, on the offensive side or on the defensive side.”

Watkins said the biggest change for his team has come on the mound, particularly when it comes to starting pitching. The Goldeyes have been getting plenty of quality starts, which certainly wasn’t the case earlier in the 100-game campaign.

“I think our pitching has kind of caught up with our hitting,” said Watkins. “For the whole year, I feel like we’ve hit the ball consistently and put up five, six, seven runs a game.”

Thursday’s starter, Ryo Kohigashi, has been terrific since moving from the bullpen. And while he may not have had his best stuff in this one — he laboured through five innings, giving up four runs off nine hits — he managed to limit the damage.

Arij Fransen came on for two scoreless frames of relief, while closer Derrick Cherry locked it down in the ninth for his 14th save after set-up man Eli Saul gave up a run in the eighth.

“(Pitchers) are giving us a chance to win, and that’s all I really need my starting pitchers to do,” said Watkins.

It also helps when the defence is pitching in, as was the case against the Dogs. Catcher Kevin Garcia made a diving catch of a foul ball in the first inning which included tripping over first baseman Roby Enriquez, juggling the ball and still keeping it in his glove.

Centre-fielder Noah Marcelo then made a leaping catch at the wall to rob a Chicago hitter of at least extra bases — and maybe a home run — in the top of the second inning. There was also another sliding grab by Keshawn Lynch in left field in the fifth.

The Goldeyes last won a league championship in 2017. They came close in 2024 — the first year under Watkins — but lost in the final. Last year represented a major step back, with a 41-58 record which led to missing the playoffs entirely.

Watkins never hit the panic button earlier this season, opting to make a few minor lineup tweaks rather than wholesale roster changes even when the desired results weren’t coming.

“Our coaching staff, we just trust what our eyes see,” said Watkins. “We believed at the start of the year we had good baseball players in here. Not everyone gets off to a hot start every year. It’s nice to be proven right. Sometimes you sit here and it’s like, ‘Alright guys, let’s go.’ Just trust in what I see and in these guys. We’ve got a good baseball team in here.”

However, this group is no longer just content to try and sneak in. They have their sights set on first place in the division.

In terms of win streaks, the Goldeyes are now within two victories of the league record of 15, set in 2010 by the Pensacola Pelicans.

winnipegfreepress.com/mikemcintyre