After 14 innings, Tucson wins Game 6, takes series

Marcell Ozuna came up with another big postseason hit for Tucson, driving in Brett Gardner in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the King Snakes a 2-1 walk-off victory in Game 6 and clinching the series against Sardine City, 4-2.

As 4th seed, Tucson took the best-of-seven semi-final series by winning four straight games after dropping the first two games to top-seeded Sardine City. In Game 6, The King Snakes tied the game in extra innings on a bases-loaded hit batsmen before winning it in the 14th. They will return to the DMBL World Series for the first time since 2016.

Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the 14th inning with a single down the left-field line and then stole 2nd base to get a runner in scoring position with no one out. Altuve struck out before Ozuna lined the series-winning single. Ozuna drove in three runs in a deciding Game 5 against Marietta in the 1st round and blasted a grand slam in an extra regular season game versus Arkansas to decide the Clemente Division. He had 5 RBI in each series.

Game 6 turned out to be the pitcher's duel that was expected - and then some. The first run scored in the top of the 12th inning when Craig Kimbrel surrendered a lead-off homer to Tyler Flowers, the first batter he faced. The Tucson bullpen allowed just 2 hits in 7 innings of work. Josh Hader got the win, going the final 2 innings.

Max Scherzer and Corey Kluber matched zeroes across seven innings with neither pitcher allowing a runner past 2nd base. Scherzer struck out 8 and walked 2 over 7 innings, giving up just 2 hits, the first coming with one out in the 6th. Of his 112 pitches, 65 were for strikes (.580).

Kluber went 7 1/3 innings, striking out 12 and walking 2 while yielding 6 hits. He threw 119 pitches, 79 for strikes (.663).

After Scherzer exited Felipe Rivero tossed a hitless inning, followed by 3 hitless innings by Blake Parker.

The first time either team got a runner to 3rd base was the bottom of the 9th inning. Avisail Garcia was hit by a pitch and then took 3rd base when Nelson Cruz came up with a pinch-hit to right center, batting for Nolan Arenado. Ryan Madson, who had come on with one out in the 8th, escaped by getting a line out, a strikeout and a groundout to end the 9th inning still scoreless.

Keone Kela followed Madson, starting the bottom of the 11th for Sardine City. After striking out Luis Valbuena, he walked Garcia and Jedd Gyorko to put the winning run on 2nd base but came back to strike out Eric Thames. Tucson sent up Paul De Jong as a pinch-hitter for Mike Zunino but popped out to center.

The 12th inning turned out to be the most baserunners  the Straphangers would have. After Flowers' homer to tie the game, Corey Seager reached on an infield single before Evan Longoria walked. Javier Baez struck out but George Springer got beaned to load the bases with one out. Eric Hosmer struck out and Codey Bellinger picked a poor time to pop out to 2nd base, stranding 3 runners.

Tucson got a rally going in the bottom of the 12th inning with two outs. Kela plunked Altuve and again issued two straight walks, to Ozuna and Valbuena, to load the bases. Sardine City called on Andrew Miller to save their 1-0 lead in a must-win Game 6. Miller, who was 2nd in the league with 33 saves during the regular season, caught Garcia with a pitch to force in the tying run. The lefty came back to strike out Gyorko but the game would go on to the 13th inning.

The Straphangers bullpen only gave up 3 hits themselves. Madson went 2 2/3 innings, allowing 1 hit with 4 strikeouts. Kela went 2 1/3 innings but walked 4 - including what turned out to be the tying run - and struck out 2. Miller gave up 2 hits and 1 run in 1 2/3 innings, with 3 strikeouts. Miller suffered the loss. The two teams combined to hit six batters.

Tucson finished with 2 runs on 9 hits and left 15 runners on base. Sardine City had 1 run on 4 hits, stranding 12. Altuve led all batters with 3 hits but no one else had more than 1.

Tucson outscored Sardine City in the series, 24-20. Sardine City batted .215/.270/.364 in the series. Edwin Encarnacion (.280/.308/.640), acquired from Blue Ridge in July along with Kyle Seager, led the squad with 7 hits, 3 HRs, 4 RBI and 4 runs scored. Javier Baez batted .286/.333/714 on the strength of a two-homer effort in Game 2 and had 4 hits in the series. George Springer (.208/.296/.333) had a team-high 3 doubles. Kluber (1.76/0.91)led all pitchers in the 2nd round with 23 Ks in 15 1/3 innings. Zack Goldey (3.95/1.39) was the only other Straphanger with two starts, striking out 14 in 13 2/3 innings.

Zunino led Tucson with 2 HRs and 6 RBI against Sardine City. Ozuna (.261/.370/.478) had 5 RBI in the 2nd round and the two now lead all postseason batters with 10 RBI through 2 rounds. Zunino (.350/.435/.850) had a team-high 4 doubles in semi-final, and now has 5 along with Altuve (.400/.433/.520) to lead all batters. Garcia led Tucson with a line of .421/.542/.684 in the 2nd round, including 4 HBP in the six-game series.

The Straphangers were among three teams from the Piazza Division to make the playoffs, along with No. 5 Marietta (100-62) and No. 6 Hillsborough (89-73), who were eliminated in 5-games series in the first round. Tucson will await its opponent in the finals. In other semi-final series No. 2 Hopatcong leads No. 4 Vancouver 3-2 with Game 6 on Tuesday.