Game 1
Ebbets Field
May 10, 2014 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Baltimore Stouts (16-21) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums (18-19) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | 10 | 9 | 1 | |
| W: R. Johnson (5-2) L: J. Bere (0-1) | |||||||||||||
Brooklyn manager Daryl Holloman rested staff ace Randy Johnson in their last series to save him for this spot to take on the Stouts. Needless to say, the rest paid off as Johnson was superb, holding the powerful Baltimore lineup to just four hits while striking out 15 in his complete game shutout. Jason Bere was called up from Indianapolis to make his first official start for the Stouts, and he pitched well for three innings, holding the Bums scoreless. But the wheels fell off in the 4th as Brooklyn exploded for four in the inning. They came back with another four in the 5th to seal the victory. Alex Ochoa and Robin Ventura both went yard for the Bums, but the game was really all about the Big Unit. The shutout was Johnson's second on the young season. His ERA sits at 2.61 through eight starts, with 87 strikeouts in only 62 innings of work. He has to be considered the early front-runner for Pitcher-of-the-Year in the Classic League.
Ebbets Field
May 11, 2014 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Baltimore Stouts (17-21) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 0 | |
| Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums (18-20) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 | |
| W: A. Osuna (4-0) L: S. Spencer (2-4) SV: A. Benitez (8) | |||||||||||||
HR: J. Snow (7, 1st inning off K. Rueter 1 on, 2 out), P. Reese (3, 8th inning off F. Rodriguez 0 on, 0 out)
The Baltimore bats finally awoke early in this one as Lance Berkman blasted a three-run homer in the 1st inning off Bums starter Stan Spencer. Brooklyn would bounce right back though with a pair of their own in the bottom half of the inning off Stouts starter Kirk Rueter, who was actually injured serving up a homer to JT Snow and had to leave the game. The Bums pushed another one across in the 3rd off Antonio Osuna to tie it up at 3-3.
Spencer, pitching in the final game of his career, lasted into the 5th, but his final inning was an unforgettable one as he allowed three Baltimore base-runners to cross the plate. It could have been worse if not for two runners thrown out on the base-paths. Berkman was gunned down at home for the second out of the inning as he tried to score on a Bill Mueller single to center. Ricky Gutierrez, who had walked to load the bases, was thrown out at third to end the inning after a single by Eduardo Perez. But the damage had still been done. Baltimore now leads 6-3 heading into the final half.The Baltimore bullpen actually performed quite well in this contest. Osuna went 3.1 innings in relief of Rueter and only gave up the one run in the 3rd. He was replaced by Antonio Alfonseca, who pitched the 5th and 6th innings without incident. Felix Rodriguez tossed the 7th and 8th, and despite allowing one run, he was able to get the ball into the hands of Armando Benitez in the 9th with the lead. Brooklyn was unable to get a runner on base in their final turn and the Stouts had taken game two 7-4. Osuna picked up his fourth win in relief. Benitez racked up his 8th save.
Game 3
Ebbets Field
May 12, 2014 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Baltimore Stouts (18-21) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | |
| Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums (18-21) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 2 | |
| W: S. Estes (5-2) L: M. Redman (2-3) SV: A. Benitez (9) | |||||||||||||
The Bums get on the board first, plating three runs of Stouts starter Shawn Estes in the 1st inning. But that would be it for Brooklyn as Estes and three relievers shut down the Bums the rest of the way. Baltimore scored their runs one at a time, plating single runs in the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th innings. They led 4-3 heading into the bottom of the 6th. Brooklyn put runners on first and second with one out in that inning, but pitcher Tim Worrell was allowed to bat and ended up grounding into an inning ending double-play. Alex Ochoa singled with two outs in the 7th, but Alan Embree relieved Estes and struck out JT Snow to end the inning. In the 8th, the Bums got runners on first and second once again with only one out, but this time Felix Rodriguez got Brad Ausmus to ground into the rally killing double play. And in the 9th, Armando Benitez walked Peter Bergeron with one out. The next batter, Pokey Reese, struck out swinging. Bergeron attempted to steal on the play and could have been the final out, but his attempt was successful. He stood on second as the tying run as Alex Ochoa stepped to the plate. Ochoa was 5-11 in the series with a homer in game one. But this time Benitez got him to fly out to deep center to end the game. A hard fought 4-3 victory for the Stouts.Both teams exit the series with identical 18-21 records. And the explosive offensive display that was expected never really materialized. Only five home runs were hit in the three games, and only one of them by a Baltimore player (Berkman game two). The Stouts scored only 11 runs in the three game set. And they only accomplished the 11 in the final two games after being shutout in the opener. After averaging 6.8 runs through the season's first 33 games, Baltimore has managed just 3.5 per game in their last six. They look to turn things around as they head back home to take on Matt and the Beaneaters from Boston, who currently hold down the best record in the Classic League with a 23-16 mark.
No comments:
Post a Comment