Keuchel shuts down Frisco for Game 1 win

Arkansas took Game 1 in their semifinal series against San Francisco in a rare postseason duel between 20-game winners.
The Golden Falcons got three hits a piece from Lorenzo Cain and Jhonny Peralta and plated a run in every inning from the 2nd through the 5th to grow a 4-0 lead before blowing it open with 3 in the 7th.


Dallas Keuchel (20-6) shut down the Experience, limiting them to 1 run on 4 hits over 8 innings. He struck out 8 and walked 2. Sam Dyson finished up in the 9th yielding a harmless single.

Fellow 20-game winner Adam Warren (20-5) was roughed up for 4 runs on 7 hits over 5 innings. He struck out 3, walked 2 and hit a batter.

Peralta scored three runs and got the Golden Falcons offense going with a single to lead off the 2nd. He stole second base and took third on an infield single by Scooter Gennett before coming home on a Billy Burns ground out. Mitch Moreland homered in the 3rd and Cain led off the 5th with a solo shot. It was Peralta again leading off with a single in the 4th, taking third on a Brock Holt single, before scoring on ground out by Gennett.

The Experience bunched up 3 singles in the 7th, which led to their lone run, a Juan Lagares infield single that scored Marcus Semien to make it 4-1. Yunel Escobar had 2 of Frisco's 5 hits.

Fellow 20-game winner Adam Warren was roughed up for 4 runs on 7 hits over 5 innings. He struck out 3, walked 2 and hit a batter. Keone Kela fared no better in relief, surrendering 3 runs in 1 2/3 innings. Darren O'Day finished up with 1 1/2 scoreless frames.

After a clean 6th inning, Kela gave up a leadoff double to Cain and then struck out two before intentionally walking Anthony Rizzo. Peralta then singled home Cain and Kela uncorked two wild pitches that brought home Rizzo. An infield single by Holt scored another run and it was 7-1 before Kela got the hook. O'Day came on and yielded a hit but got out of the 7th without any more damage.

The 2nd-seeded Golden Falcons host the 3rd-seeded Experience for Game 2 today. Matt Harvey gets the start for Arkansas as San Francisco turns to Chris Sale. The two teams are evenly matched, with San Francisco taking the season series, 6-4. Arkansas went 29-29 against the playoff field in the regular season and the only team they were below. 500 against was the Experience. San Francisco is a league-best 32-18 (.640) against other playoff teams, including 9-1 against Vancouver, whom they defeated in Round 1.

The other semifinal also gets under way on Sunday in Tucson, where Jake Arrieta takes the mound for the top-seeded Scorpions against 5th-seeded Allentown, who will start Hirashi Iwakuma. Tucson won the season series 6-4 against Allentown and is 26-24 (.520) against the other five playoff teams, the only other team above .500. Allentown was 28-30 mark (.483) against the playoff field during the regular season.