Marietta powers to Game 2 win

Justin Turner and Giancarlo Stanton homered for the second straight game and Mike Clevinger overcame 5 walks to earn the victory in Marietta's 8-4 triumph at Tucson on Saturday night.

The Game 2 win evens the Best-of-Five series at 1-1, with the series moving to Marietta on Monday for Game 3.

Turner and Chris Iannetta had three hits to lead the Mighty Men, sparking a four-run 3rd inning. Starlin Castro doubled to lead off the inning and took 3rd on right-fielder Avisail Garcia's error. After Kevin Kiermaier struck out, Turner doubled him home and scored himself on Iannetta's single before Stanton cleared the bases with his 3rd homer of the series for a 4-0 lead.

Nelson Cruz, the 2016 playoff MVP, responded for Tucson by homering to lead off the bottom of the 3rd to cut the margin to 4-1.

Marietta got a man as far as 3rd base in the 4th but couldn't bring him home. When Turner led off the 5th with a homer off Robbie Ray to make it 5-1, that was it for the King Snakes starter. Ray logged 4 innings but 7 hits and 5 earned runs but did strike out 7 across 87 pitches (46 for strikes). Luis Garcia worked the next two innings for Tucson, only yielding a single by the first batter he faced, Iannetta, who was erased on a double play.

Clevinger made it through 5 innings for Marietta thanks to a key double-play in his final inning of work. He walked Jose Altuve and Brett Gardner to start the 5th and after getting Marcell Ozuna to pop out to short, induced an inning-ending double by Luis Valbuena, sent up to pinch-hit for Mike Zunino.

The Mighty Men widened the lead in the 7th off Josh Hader, came on after Garcia. The lefty plunked Ianetta with two out, then Stanton doubled before Justin Bour walked to load the bases. Asdrubal then Cabrera drove two runs in with a single. Hader struck out Chris Taylor to end the 7th before any more damage could be done, with Marietta up 7-1.

Tucson responded again in the bottom of the inning. After an easy going 6th inning for Tommy Kahnle, the 7th inning wasn't as kind. He walked the bottom of the lineup, Nelson Cruz and Brandon Crawford, to start the inning before three consecutive singles by Altuve, Gardner and Ozuna, cutting the Mighty Men lead to 7-4. Still no one out but men on 1st and 2nd, Kahnle struck out J.T. Realmuto for the first out. Eric Thames stepped in representing the tying run but grounded into another critical inning-ending double-play.

Blake Parker started the 8th for Tucson and lasted into the 9th, yielding a solo homer to left center by Iannetta, to make score, 8-4, for Marietta. The King Snakes put up a mild fight against Chad Green in the 9th, another lead off single by Crawford and a two-out single by Ozuna got men on base but Green shut the door for good by striking out Realmuto to end the game.

Clevinger (1-0) limited the King Snakes to 3 hits and 1 run, despite 5 walks and 4 strikeouts. Chad Green earned the save, going the final two innings. Kahnle had a rough two innings in between, allowing 3 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks but still getting the hold.

Ray suffered the loss (0-1) for Tucson. Garcia went 2 innings in relief and Hader gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk in 1 inning of work. The only blemish in Parker's 2 innings of relief was the Ianetta home run.

Marietta finished with 11 hits and 8 runs, leaving 5 men on base. The top third of the Mighty Men lineup (Turner, Ianetta and Stanton) accounted for 8 hits, 5 runs and 6 RBI.

Tucson had 4 runs on 8 hits but left 9 men on base. All the production for the King Snakes came from the 1-2-3 and 8-9 hitter.