The No. 1 seeded Scorpions now lead the Best-of-7 series, 3-2, over the second-seeded Golden Falcons. The Tucson triumph sets up a Game 6 in Arkansas on Wednesday. The Scorpions will turn to either Jon Lester or Zach Greinke, who both went the distance in Games 2 and 3, respectively. Edinson Volquez is the likely starter for Arkansas although in an elimination game, pretty much everyone but Game 5 starter Matt Harvey will be on call to try to avoid elimination and get their best pitcher, Dallas Keuchel, to a Game 7.
Jake Arrieta and Matt Harvey locked into an epic pitcher's duel last night, rarely allowing more than a single runner - if that - in any of their 8 innings. They had nearly identical lines, finishing with 7 strikeouts and a walk; Arrieta gave up 5 hits while Harvey scattered 8. Both bullpens were brilliant, escaping jams in the late innings, with 6 innings of 4-hit ball by Tucson while Arkansas relievers went 5 2/3 innings, giving up 7 hits.
Tucson smacked 15 hits but left 17 men on and Arkansas had 9 hits and left 10 men on, including the bases loaded in the 13th inning. Only 4 of the combined 24 hits went for extra bases, and just two of those involved runs scored.
Incredibly, after 14 innings of one-run ball, in which both teams squandered scoring opportunities, it was an unearned run that was the difference in Game 5.
Kelvin Herrera started his 3rd inning of relief when Brock Holt misplayed Marcell Ozuna's hot shot to 3rd and hurried his throw to 1st where Anthony Rizzo couldn't handle it and Ozuna ended up on 2nd base. With 1st base open, Starling Marte was walked intentionally. Ozuna took 3rd base on Lucas Duda's fly ball to center for the 1st out, then Nolan Arenado was walked intentionally to fill the bases and that was it for Herrera.
Sam Dyson was called upon to get out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam. He struck out Nelson Cruz, who has a team-high 13 hits this postseason, for the 2nd out. Things were looking up for the Golden Falcons but amid the superstars, the postseason always seems to find an unlikely hero in critical situations.Juan Uribe continues to find himself in key spots during his somehow long DMBL career. He spent half the season in San Francisco before being released, briefly filled in for Vancouver, and finally was claimed by Tucson a month before the season ended. The man who had but 6 regular season at-bats for the Scorpions poked a seeing-eye single between 1st and 2nd to plate Ozuna with the winning run, sending the Tucson faithful into a frenzy.
Ten Scorpions had at least one hit and again it was Cruz with the team-high, 3 hits. Buster Posey had 3 hits out of the leadoff spot for Arkansas and Lorenzo Cain again led the squad with 4. Rizzo and Holt were the only other Falcons to collect hits.
Tony Watson and Dellin Betances both went 3 innings in relief for Tucson, with Betances notching the win. He struck out 4 to Watson's 1. Tucson's go-to relievers, Watson tossed 32 pitches and Betances threw 54 pitches but with Tuesday's off day, both should be available for Game 6.
Herrera, who was saddled with the loss, and Carson Smith did the heavy lifting for the Golden Falcons' pen, going 2 2/3 and 2 1/3 innings, respectively.
The Scorpions very nearly walked off in the bottom of the 9th if not for the heroics of Smith. Zach Britton had started the inning in relief of Harvey. He issued a one-out walk to A.J. Ellis, pinch-hitting for J.T. Realmuto. Troy Tulowitzki, hitting for Brandon Crawford, singled and was followed by another single from Jose Altuve to load the bases with just one out.
Ozuna came on to hit for
Michael Brantley and that's when Arkansas summoned Smith to take over
for Britton, who ended up going only 2/3 innings. He came up with two yuge strikeouts, first Ozuna then
Marte, to end the 9th and go to extras still tied at 1-1.Tucson had another chance in the bottom of the 10th. Duda led off with a single and took third on a one-out single by Cruz. Uribe came on to bat for Darrin Ruf, who had replaced Kyle Schwarber at DH in the 9th. Uribe grounded to second and Scooter Gennett immediately went home with the throw where Duda was out with what could have been the winning run. The other runners advanced but Smith got Ellis to ground to 3rd to end the inning.
The Golden Falcons had their own opportunity to snag the lead in the 11th. Posey and Cain opened the inning with singles down the right field line and after Cain took second on defensive indifference, Watson, in his 3rd inning of relief, was staring at men on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.
Rizzo meekly grounded out to the catcher for the second out. Carlos Ruiz, who had batted for Mitch Moreland in the 9th and stayed on as DH, grounded to short where Tulowitzki decided to throw home, nailing Posey at home for the second out. Cain advanced to 3rd on the play with Ruiz at 1st base. Watson still had to get lefty-masher Jordy Mercer to get out of the inning and he did, grounding out to short.
For the fourth time in the series, a 1st-inning run opened the scoring, this time by the visiting Golden Falcons. Cain, who leads all batters with 14 postseason hits, tripled down the 1st base line and trotted home on Rizzo's groundout to second for a quick 1-0 advantage.
The Golden Falcons got a runner as far as 3rd base in the 6th inning after Rizzo's one-out double and Moreland's fly out to center but Khris Davis struck out to end the inning. Likewise in the 7th, the Scorpions looked like they might scratch out a run after a leadoff single by pinch-hitter Yangervis Solarte. He advanced to third after Altuve's one-out single to right but Harvey retired Brantley and Marte to get out of the inning still tied, 1-1.
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