Chicago Dogs drop series opener

Gustavo Pierre and David Olmedo-Barrera homered, but the Chicago Dogs could not limit the high-powered Winnipeg Goldeyes offense as they fell, 14-4, on Wednesday night at Impact Field.

Carlos Zambrano (L, 3-1) got off to a hot start, retiring the first ten batters he faced. The former Chicago Cub finished with six earned runs allowed on seven hits while striking out three over 4.1 frames.

Gustavo Pierre opened the scoring with a solo homer, his fifth of the season, to give Chicago a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third.

Winnipeg then tied it at one in the top of the fourth when Kyle Martin's grounder sneaked under Pierre's glove, allowing Wes Darvill to score.

The Dogs answered right back by loading the bases to begin the bottom half of the frame. Edwin Arroyo grounded into a fielder's choice to score Jordan Dean and put Chicago back on top. After Olmedo-Barrera lined out to second base on the next at-bat, a throwing error by Alex Perez allowed Trey Vavra to score and extend the Dogs' lead to two.

The Goldeyes responded in a big way, piling up seven runs in the top of the fifth. After an RBI double by Perez pulled Winnipeg within one, Kevin Garcia ripped an RBI single to knot the game at three.

A two-run single by Reggie Abercrombie and three-run homer by Kyle Martin put the visitors up 8-3. Winnipeg then added two more runs off of Jalen Miller and Harrison Smith to extend their lead to seven.

The Dogs did respond with some bite - Olmedo-Barrera's solo shot in the bottom of the seventh pulled Chicago within six.

Former White Sox slugger Willy Garcia added a grand slam in the eighth to complete Winnipeg's scoring.

LHP Austin Wright (5-7, 4.38 ERA) will get the start tomorrow evening with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m.