Paxton, Martinez save Iron Fist to force Game 6

James Paxton struck out a postseason-high 13 and Vancouver made the most of their baserunners thanks to a J.D. Martinez grand slam for a 5-1 win at Hopatcong on Sunday night in Game 5.

The 3rd-seeded Iron Fist avoided elimination, forcing Game 6 back in Vancouver on Tuesday. The No. 2 seeded Floating Fish lead the best-of-seven semifinal series, 3-2. Both teams could come back with their Game 3 starters: Kyle Hendricks for Hopatcong and Luis Castillo for Vancouver. Hopatcong also has Game 2 starter Gio Gonzalez available.

Paxton (3-0) was effectively wild, with 13 strikeouts, 3 walks and 3 wild pitches, in winning his second game of the series and third of this postseason. He threw 100 pitches (65 for strikes, .650) in 6 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits. Strasburg (1-1) looked dominant but for one inning that got him in trouble. But it was big trouble as he gave up all of his 5 earned runs and 4 hits in the 4th inning, along with 1 of his 2 bases on balls. Strasburg had been perfect through the first 3 innings and struck out 5 and walked 1 in his final two innings after the 4th.

Vancouver bunched their baserunners in the 4th. Alex Avila led off with a walk, followed by singles from Josh Reddick and Anthony Rendon, so it looked like it would be a big inning. Martinez made sure of that by cleaning the bases with a home run deep to left for a 4-0 lead. Before the Hopatcong faithful could even process what just happened, Charlie Blackmon took Strasburg deep to right center for a 5-0 lead.

The Floating Fish were still scoreless but not for lack of opportunities. Zack Cozart led off the bottom of the 1st with a double down the left field line and took 3rd on Joey Votto's groundout to 2nd base. Paxton bore down and struck Ryan Zimmerman and Nick Castellanos to extinguish the threat.

Hopatcong had another chance to get a run in the 2nd inning. Gary Sanchez drew a leadoff walk and after strikeouts of Bryce Harper and Yoenis Cespedes, Paxton threw a wild pitch, allowing Sanchez to advance to 2nd base. Jackie Bradley followed with a single to left, putting runners on the corners. But No. 9 hitter Ronald Torreyes grounded out to short to end the inning.

Hopatcong squandered another leadoff walks and wild pitches in both the 5th and 6th innings, stranding Bradley and then Zimmerman at 2nd base, respectively. The Fish finally broke through after Paxton exited. Cespedes led off the 7th with a double off reliever Juan Nicasio. Marwin Gonzalez, pinch-hitting for Jackie Bradley, struck out. Another pinch-hitter, Salvador Perez for Torreyes, finally delivered with a double to left center, cutting the lead to 5-1. Perez took 3rd base on Cozart's fly out to right but Votto popped out to short to end the inning.

With a four-run lead, Vancouver closer Sean Doolittle struck out the side in the 8th and gave up a single in the 9th before closing it out.

Strasburg finished with a peculiar line of 6 innings, 4 hits and 5 runs, to go with 9 strikeouts and 2 walks. Excluding the 4th inning, he tossed 5 hitless innings with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk. Of his 91 pitches, 57 were for strikes (.626). Mychael Givins tossed a hitless 7th inning and Tyler Lyons pitched the final 2 innings, striking out 3 and allowing 1 hit and a walk.

Vancouver finished with 5 runs on 5 hits, leaving just 2 men on base. Hopatcong had 1 run on 6 hits, leaving 8 men aboard. Martinez had 4 RBI, all coming on the grand slam, and Blackmon had the other homer; Anthony Rendon finished with 2 hits. The two teams combined for 30 strikeouts. Jonathan Schoop had a game-high 4 Ks and Blackman struck out 3 times. Four Fish collected three strikeouts: Castellanos, Zimmeran, Sanchez and Cespedes.