Max Scherzer limited Tucson to three baserunners over the first 8 innings in his best postseason start, leading the Cutters to a 4-2 Game 7 win over the defending champions, to earn their spot in the 2017 World Series. The 3rd-seeded Cutters came back to win after trailing 3-2 in the series over No. 2 Tucson.
Wilmer Flores gave Hoboken the lead early with a 1st-inning two-run home run off Jon Lester, scoring Jose Reyes, who singled earlier. The Cutters threatened again in the 4th, a leadoff double by David Ortiz, and a wild pitch before Miguel Cabreraa was walked, to put men on 1st and 3rd but Adrian Beltre grounded into an inning-ending double play.Meanwhile, Scherzer walked the leadoff man in the 3rd, and then didn't allow a baserunner until a two-out single in the 6th, and then a walk in the 7th.
Hoboken added a run in the 6th. Reyes lined a one-out double down the right-field line and came home on an Ortiz single to make it 3-0 while Ortiz was gunned down trying to stretch it into a double. The Cutters threatened in the 7th too.
Cabrera led off with a walk and Beltre and Rene Rivera followed with singles to load the bases with no one out. Tucson turned to the bullpen, calling in Bruce Rondon, who did his best Houdini impersonation. Ben Zobrist grounded weakly to the catcher for the first out before Matt Joyce grounded into a double play to end the inning and the Kingsnakes still trailing only 3-0.
The Cutters would get their insurance run in the 8th off lefty Ryan Buchter. Jarrod Dyson led off with a triple and after Reyes walked, Ortiz lofted a sac fly to right, scoring Dyson for a 4-0 lead. In the bottom of the 8th, Chris Davis walked pinch-hitting for Zack Cozart and reached third on a two-out single by J.T. Realmuto before Starling Marte flied out to right to end the inning.
Jose Altuve led off the 9th inning with a home run to inflict the first damage on Scherzer and give Tuscon hope, cutting the lead to 4-1. Sean Rodriguez reached second base after an error by Reyes, then scored on a Nolan Arenado double. With two out and the tying run at the plate, Scherzer's night was finished after 112 pitches. Carl Edwards, Jr. came on in relief and quickly dispatched Tuscon, getting Kole Calhoun and Elvis Andrus to fly out for the final outs, sending the 3rd-seeded Cutters to the finals.Hoboken and Tucson also went seven games in 2014 semifinals when the Kingsnakes were known as the Durham Bulls. The seeds were reversed -- the Cutters were the No. 2 and Durham the No. 3 -- but the result was the same, with Hoboken taking it 4-3.
Scherzer earned his first win of the postseason, going 8 1/3 innings. He struck out 8 and walked 3, limiting Tuscon to 4 hits and 2 runs (1 earned). Edwards picked up the save. Lester, the winner in Game 4, took the lost. He went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 and striking out 5. Rondon tossed a scoreless inning, followed by an inning each from Buchter and Matt Bush.
Both teams left 6 runners on base but Hoboken had 10 hits to Tucson's 4 hits, 2 of which came from Realmuto. Ortiz and Flores led the Cutters with 2 RBI, and three players had two hits a piece: Ortiz, Reyes, who also scored 2 runs, and Rene Rivera.
It's no wonder the series came down to the 7th game as the two teams were evenly match, with Hoboken edging Tucson in runs scored, 24-23.
Ortiz leads all batters with 15 hits and 13 RBI in the postseason, including 5 RBI in Round 2 against Tucson, all coming in the final two must-win games for the Cutters. He had a team-high 8 hits in the semifinals (.333/.370/.542). Flores matched Ortiz with a team-leading 5 RBI and led the squad with 3 HR, going 7-for-18 (.389/.421/.944). Hoboken's other Mitchell Award candidate didn't fare as well, going just 3-for-24 (.125/.276/.292) with 1 HR and 4 RBI. Matt Joyce had one of hte more interesting lines, going just 1-for-14 (.071/.409/.071) but had 8 walks to 6 strikeouts, mainly in a bizarre Game 2 walk-fest win.
Kershaw won 2 games in the series, going 13 innings with 15 strikeouts and 1 walk. He allowed just 1 earned run (0.69) and 4 hits (0.38 WHIP). As a team, Hoboken had a 2.95 ERA and 0.85 WHIP, including four relievers who combined for 7 scorelesss outings.
Rich Hill was almost as good as Kershaw in 2 wins for Tucson, going 13 innings with 16 Ks and 3 walks for a 1.38 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. Tucson combined for a 1.21 WHIP and a 3.39 ERA, most of the damage inflicted to Arrieta, who lost 2 games, going 12 1/3 innings while allowing 12 walks and 12 strikeouts (4.38 ERA, 1.30 WHIP). The Kingsnakes bullpen was a mixed bag, with Kyle Barraclough going 3 2/3 hitless innings in 3 appearances (0.55 WHIP) while Ryan Buchter was roughed up in 3 appearances spanning 4 1/3 innings (4.15 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) along with Rondon (team-high 5.06 ERA, 1.88 WHIP).Had the Kingsnakes won Game 7, it would have been the fourth year in a row that a defending champion made the finals. Hoboken will appear in its third DMBL World Series and first since 2014. The Cutters will face 4th-seeded Sardine City, which won its first postseason series this year and now has advanced to its first-ever DMBL World Series. Game 1 is scheduled for Tuesday in Hoboken.
The No. 3 seed, Hoboken finished the regular season with 94-68 mark while the No. 4 seed, Sardine City, finished 85-77, but both knocked off 100-win teams in the top two seeds, No. 2 Tucson and No. 1 Vancouver, respectively. Both teams had losing records against the other five playoff teams, Sardine City at 24-26 (.480) and Hoboken at 23-31 (.426). The Straphangers won the season series, 7-3.
No comments :
Post a Comment