SERIES #10 vs SEATTLE LIGHTNING - 21 Inning Pitchers Duel Opens Series

Baltimore welcomes the Seattle Lightning to town for a three game set to kickoff the month of May.  The Lightning bring a 14-13 record into play.  They are currently 2nd in the Expansion League's Pacific Division behind the red-hot San Francisco Quakers.  The Stouts are coming back home following a brief road-trip to Arizona which saw them lose two of three to the Apaches.  Both teams are looking for improvement heading into the new month.  Let's get to the action.

The Crowd was sparse by the end of the 21 inning marathon that was Game 1

Game 1
Memorial Stadium

May 1, 2014

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21		R	H	E
Seattle Lightning(15-13)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		2	17	1
Baltimore Stouts(12-16)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	10	0
	W: P. Byrd (2-0)   L: B. Rekar (1-2)

HR: T. Clark (3, 5th inning off K. Rueter 0 on, 1 out), J. Gonzalez (1, 21st inning off B. Rekar 0 on, 1 out)

In what only can be called an Instant Classic, game one of the series produced a marathon pitchers duel that ranks as longest in league history.  Starters Aaron Sele and Kirk Rueter were long gone by the time this game's outcome was determined.  Both teams bullpen's combined to toss 26.1 innings while allowing only 17 hits and the one lone run which was the game-winner in the 21st inning.  Paul Byrd earned his money by going seven innings for the Lightning to earn the win.  Bryan Rekar, who is slated to start in game three of this series, was forced into action in the 20th inning and gave up the game-winning homerun to Juan Gonzalez an inning later to shoulder the loss.  Baltimore was unable to respond in the bottom half and the Lightning has secured a long, hard-fought victory on the road.

Obviously, the offenses left a little to be desired in this one.  The teams combined to go 3 for 25 with runners in scoring position (.120 avg).  They combined to strand 35 runners on base, 22 of those by the Stouts alone.  Seattle hitters grounded into seven double-plays.

Paul Byrd 7 innings in relief

Individually, the lowlights include Glenallen Hill, who was 1-9 with 5 Ks.  Ken Griffey Jr. was 0-6.  Todd Helton, who leads the MBL in hitting, went 1-7, as did teammate Larry Walker.  Bill Mueller went 0-8.  Catcher Ed Taubensee went 0-6.  The most damaging though was Garrett Anderson.  Thrown out at the plate trying to score the game winning run in the 16th, he then proceeded to strand the bases-loaded in the 17th when he lined out to end that inning.  In the 19th, he ended the inning by flying out with runners at 1st and 2nd.  And he finished his day off by ending the game in the 21st when he flew out to center with the tying run sitting on 2nd base.  Overall, the MBL leader in RBI through the season's first month, Anderson stranded nine runners on base and was 0-4 with RISP.

The teams are back at it tomorrow on a short night's rest.

Game 2
Memorial Stadium

May 2, 2014

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Seattle Lightning (15-14)	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		3	8	1
Baltimore Stouts (13-16)	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	1	X		6	10	0
	W: S. Estes (4-1)   L: G. Mota (0-1) SV: A. Benitez (5)

HR: M. Tejada (2, 2nd inning off S. Estes 0 on, 1 out)

Back to normal in game two.  Seattle got the scoring started early with runs in both the first two innings.  Baltimore responded in the 4th with a pair of their own to tie it up.  The game remained deadlocked until the 7th, when the Lightning manufactured a run to go up 3-2 heading into the stretch.

The Baltimore bats came alive in the bottom half of the 7th off Seattle relievers.  Guillermo Mota opened the inning on the hill, replacing starter Kerry Wood.  He gave up back-to-back singles to Ricky Gutierrez and pinch-hitter Eric Owens to start the inning, and after getting Fernando Vina to strike out, he was replaced by Mark Buehrle.  The change wasn't effective as he promptly walked pinch-hitter Ruben Mateo to load the bases.  Up came the MBL's leading hitter Todd Helton, who laced a double to deep left to clear the bases.  After a Larry Walker walk, Garrett Anderson continued his struggles by grounding into a double-play to end the inning.  But the damage had been done.  The Stouts scored an insurance run in the 8th, and closer Armando Benitez came in to pitch the 9th to secure his 5th save on the season.


Game 3
Memorial Stadium

May 3, 2014

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Seattle Lightning (15-15)	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0		5	12	1
Baltimore Stouts (14-16)	0	0	0	1	3	0	3	0	X		7	8	0
	W: A. Osuna (3-0)   L: B. Meadows (2-3) SV: S. Kline (2)

HR: L. Walker (1, 4th inning off B. Meadows 0 on, 0 out), T. Helton (8, 5th inning off B. Meadows 2 on, 2 out)

The rubber game of the series pitted Seattle's Brian Meadows against Bryan Rekar, who took the loss in relief in the game one marathon.  Both pitchers had their stuff going in the early going, and the game was scoreless after three.  Baltimore got on board in the 4th when Larry Walker launched a home run.  The Lightning though responded in a big way in their half of the 5th.  Six hits in the inning plated five runs and chased Rekar from the game.  Seattle was up 5-1 heading to the bottom of the 5th.

Baltimore responded to the Lightning attack in the bottom half of the inning, powered once again by Todd Helton, who balsted a three-run homer to cut the lead to one, 5-4.  The Stouts won it in the 7th when an error by John Olerud led to three runs in the inning.  Four Baltimore relievers pitched 4.1 scoreless innings to preserve the victory.  Antonio Osuna hurling the bulk of that, tossing two scoreless innings to pickup the win.  Steve Kline, in what would be his final appearance in a Stouts uniform, got Juan Gonzalez to ground out with a man on base to pickup his second save of the season.

Stouts open up the month of May by taking two of three and now sit at 14-16 on the season, only a game-and-a-half behind Milwaukee for the division lead.  Next up is an Inter-League date with Billy Hobbs and his New York Rippers.  Should be an interesting series as the two teams just recently completed the trade that brought Armando Benitez and Larry Walker to town.  Stay tuned for the exciting recap.