Tucson hitting heats up for Game 5 win

Rich Hill limited Hoboken to 4 hits over 7 innings and Tucson used a 5-run 7th inning to turn a pitchers' duel into a 7-1 rout in Game 5 on Wednesday night. The 2nd-seeded Kingsnakes now lead the Best-of-7 series as Game 6 shifts to Hoboken.

The 3rd-seeded Cutters struck first. Jarrod Dyson bunted his way on to lead off the game and Jose Reyes followed with a double to put runners on the corners before you could get your first beer. Adrian Beltre lofted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0 but Hill came back to strike out Wilmer Flores and Miguel Cabrera to get out of the 1st.

The Cutters almost added to that lead in the 2nd. Ben Zobrist singled after a two-out walk to Rene Rivera before Dyson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Reyes, who had a 4-hit, 5-RBI game in the first round and smacked two doubles in a Game 3 win, struck out with the bases loaded and Hill escaped still trailing just 1-0. It would be the last time Hoboken threatened the left-hander.

The Kingsnakes responded by tying it up in the bottom of the 2nd. Back-to-back singles by Nolan Arenado and Zack Cozart set up Tucson with runners on the corners and no one out. Kole Calhoun grounded to second, scoring Arenado for the tying run. Jose Altuve broke up the tie in the 3rd inning with a one-out solo dinger deep down the left field line off Rick Porcello for a 2-1 lead.

From there, neither offense got much more than an errant single through the 6th inning.

Sean Rodriguez led off the bottom of the 7th with a single and Porcello got Kevin Kiermaier to fly to right before the flood gates opened. J.T. Realmuto and Starling Marte followed with singles, the latter of which scored Rodriguez for a 3-1 lead. Altuve's groundball out put the two in scoring position and Nelson Cruz cleared the bases with a two-run double to make it a 5-1 advantage. Porcello walked Arenado before Cozart finished his night with another two-run double and a 7-1 bump.

Brad Hand closed out the inning and then struck out the side in the 9th. The Cutters meanwhile went quietly against Kyle Barraclough who threw two hitless innings to finish up.

The 7-1 victory is the biggest offensive output in the series so far. The Kingsnakes finished with 11 hits and left 6 men on base. The Cutters managed 4 hits and left 4 on base. Reyes struck out three times.

Realmuto, Arenado and Cozart each finished with two hits. Cozart and Cruz both had 2 RBI while Arenado scored twice. Hill picked up his second win in the series, with a tidy 4 hits and 1 run allowed and 9 strikeouts to 1 walk in just 84 pitches through 7 innings.

Porcello had a decent line going until the 5-hit, 5-run 7th. In the loss, he allowed 11 hits and 7 runs over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 1.

Game 6 is scheduled for Friday in Hoboken.