Lester twirls 4-hitter to even series

It was another crisp, well-pitched matchup in Game 2 of the DMBL World Series but this time Tucson came out on top, thanks to some timely hitting and a brilliant 4-hit shutout by Jon Lester.

The change in strategy -- starting the lefty Lester in Game 2 instead of Zach Greinke, who started Game 2 in the semfinal series -- gave the Scorpions' the home win on Wednesday afternoon, tying the series at 1-1. Game 3 will be Friday night in Arkansas.

Arkansas' Matt Harvey matched Lester's zeroes for 5 innings behind 11 strikeouts in all before the Scorpions broke through. Harvey also walked 4 batters, some which came back to hurt him.

Harvey struck out the side in the 1st -- in between a hit batter and a stolen base  by Starling Marte -- as well as the 4th. He allowed just a single through 5 innings and got the first two outs in the 6th before walking the middle of the lineup, Lucas Duda and cleanup hitter Nolan Arenado, bringing to the plate Nelson Cruz, one of Tucson's batting leaders in this postseason. It was only a single to right center but Cruz got a run home to put Tucson ahead 1-0. Harvey came back to strike out Kyle Schwarber, who would strike out 3 times in the game, ending the 6th with Scorpions on the corners.

Arkansas had threatened in the top half of the 6th when No. 9 hitter Gregor Blanco led off with a single, advanced to 2nd on a groundout to the right side, then stole 3rd base. Lorenzo Cain came to the plate with another chance for a key postseason RBI but it was Lester who came out on top with a strikeout. He got out of the jam by getting Buster Posey to ground out to short, stranding Blanco at 3rd.

Tucson added an insurance run in the 7th. Jose Altuve, batting out of the 9-hole, drilled a two-out double to right center. Harvey walked Michael Brantley and got the hook. Sam Dyson came in with men on 1st and 2nd and two out and Marte poked a single to shallow left, scoring Altuve for a 2-0 margin. Dyson got out of the 7th by getting Duda to fly out to right.

Blanco again led off with a hit in the 8th, doubling deep to left. Billy Burns struck out to again bring Cain to the plate with a man in scoring position but he grounded weakly to Lester who tossed to 1st to end the threat.

Still with a low pitch count, Lester started the 9th, getting Posey to ground to short but then he plunked Anthony Rizzo. That brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Carlos Ruiz, who was doing the designated hitting. Lester coaxed a 5-4-3 double play out of the lefty-killer to end the ballgame.

Lester yielded just 4 hits and walked 1 while striking out 6 in the complete game masterpiece. Harvey took the loss, despite allowing just 3 hits and 2 runs. He finished with 11 strikeouts and 4 walks in just 106 pitches. Dyson gave up 2 hits over 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Zach Greinke, the Game 2 starter for Tucson in the seminal against Allentown, is likely to get the nod for Game 3. Arkansas probably will turn to Edinson Volquez.