Game seven. Two of the best words in Brassball. This has already been a great series with incredible pitching duels, outstanding offensive performances and huge swings in momentum as each team has taken looked completely in control at different times. Metropolis is currently the team with momentum, winning games five and six to force a winner-take-all game seven in their home park.
Sabathia gave up runners, but no runs. |
The Walkers lived up to their nickname in the first inning, as Chris Iannetta and Miguel Cabrera drew one out walks in front of their hottest hitter, Carlos Beltran. Unlike the last two games, Beltran could not drive home the runners, as Sabathia got him to ground out and then retired Jim Thome to escape his first jam of the night.
Carpenter dominated all night. |
Beltran couldn't repeat his recent heroics, popping out with two on in the fifth. |
While the Avengers were now into their bullpen, their hitters could do nothing against the Fleetwood starter. Carpenter faced the minimum in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, keeping the game scoreless. Carpenter was not overpowering but he kept the Metropolis hitters off balance and, more importantly, off base. In one of the biggest games of his career, Carpenter threw 7 1/3 innings and allowed just a single hit, striking out five and walking just one.
Jansen got into and out of trouble. |
McCutchen struck out to strand two runners in the ninth inning. |
The game remained scoreless as the Avengers took their swings in the bottom of the ninth. After a Travis Hafner fly out, J.J. Putz came on to face the top of the Avengers order. Putz didn't last long, as Jose Reyes sent a slider back through the middle for a single and drove Putz to the showers. Jason Grilli was called in to face Avenger slugger Jose Bautista. Grilli did his job, striking out Bautista for the second out. Robinson Cano came to the plate in the middle of horrible series slump. He had just three hits in 29 at bats, but could still be the hero. Cano fouled off two pitches before Grilli bounced a pitch in the dirt, sending Reyes to second as the potential winning run. Grilli then intentionally walked Cano to bring the right handed Andrew McCutchen to the plate with the season on the line. McCutchen was seven for 26 in the series but also had nine strikeouts. Grilli made that 10 strikeouts on an inside fastball McCutchen tipped into Avila's glove, sending the deciding game into extra innings.
Kimbrel dominated all series with no runs and 14 strikeouts in 12 innings. |
Fleetwood called on Heath Bell after one out in the tenth and he did his job - inducing weak contact by both Hart and Duda to end the inning. The managers, players and fans felt the tension rise with every inning, batter and pitch. A zero - zero game in the tenth inning has everyone anxious, but that is only amplified in game seven as every player knows a single big play, or a single big mistake, could end not only the game but also the season.
Miguel Cabrera throws his bat after a strikeout. He hit just .125 with one RBI in the series. |
Dustin Ackley pinch hit for DH Jim Thome in the top of 12, causing Metropolis to bring in Jeremy Affeldt for Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel clearly did not want to leave the game, but he had done his job, pitching three innings without allowing hit, striking out four and issuing two walks. Affeldt quickly struck out Ackley and retired third baseman David Wright, but Nick Markakis walked to become the first baserunner since he walked his last time up. With the go-ahead run on base, Affeldt focused and threw five good pitches to Asdrubal Cabrera, getting one shortstop to ground out to another and end the inning.
Bell returned to the mound for the bottom of the 12th inning to face the heart of the Metropolis order. Bautista was in the second spot for the first time all season as the Avengers tried to shake up a slumping lineup. The move did not appear to help, as Bautista, Cano and McCutchen combined to go 1-11 so far in the game. Then again, that one hit was half of Metropolis's total thus far, so maybe it did work.
Heath Bell walks off after surrendering Bautista's walk-off homer. |
Everyone knew Heath Bell was going to throw Bautista a fastball and that's exactly what he did. Bautista shot a lightning bolt into the left field stands, ending the game and the series and sending his teammates charging out of the dugout to meet him at home plate.
Jose Bautista is mobbed at home after his walk-off homer wins game seven. |
Bautista's walk-off homer ended an epic 12-inning duel in game seven and marked the second time the Avengers came back to take a series from Fleetwood after being down three games to one. Next up for Metropolis is the winner of the Springfield vs. SoCal series, but that's after a well-deserved day off. Next up for Fleetwood is a long off season filled with questions and second guesses, but also knowing they have the talent to be back in the playoffs in 2013.
Walkers AB
R H RBI AVG Avengers AB
R H RBI AVG
H.Kendrick
2B 6 0
1 0 .222 J.Reyes SS 5
0 1 0 .323
C.Iannetta C 1
0 0 0 .400
J.Bautista 3B 5 1
2 1 .348
A-A.Avila PH,C
2 0 1 0
.148 R.Cano 2B 3
0 0 0 .111
M.Cabrera 1B 4
0 0 0 .163
A.McCutchen CF 4 0
0 0 .259
C.Beltran
RF,LF 6 0 0 0 .222
A.Gordon LF 4 0 0 0 .138
J.Thome DH 4
0 0 0 .200
C.Hart RF 4 0
0 0 .280
D-D.Ackley PH,DH
1 0 0 0
.174 L.Duda 1B 3
0 0 0 .222
D.Wright 3B 5
0 2 0 .200
M.Wieters C 3
0 0 0 .182
N.Evans LF 3
0 0 0 .167
T.Hafner DH 4 0
0 0 .300
B-N.Markakis RF,CF
0 0 0 0
.243
A.Cabrera SS 4
0 1 0 .238
M.Trout CF 4
0 0 0 .273
C-M.Joyce PH,RF
1 0 0 0
.233
-- -- -- ---
-- -- -- ---
Totals 41 0
5 0 Totals 35
1 3 1
A-Pinch Hit For Iannetta In 5th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (RF) For Evans In 6th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Trout In 10th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Thome In 12th Inning
Walkers......... 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
- 0 5 0
Avengers........ 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
- 1 3 1
Walkers (7-5)
IP H R
ER BB SO
HR ERA SCORESHEET
C.Carpenter
7 1/3 1 0
0 2 5
0 2.61 A1 C6
E.Sanchez
1 0 0
0 0 1
0 0.00 C7 C9
J.Putz
0 1 0
0 0 0
0 3.72 D1 D1
J.Grilli
1 0 0
0 1 2
0 4.05 D2 D5
H.Bell LOSS(1-1)
1 2/3 1
1 1 0
1 1 3.86
D6
Totals
11 3 1
1 3 9 1
Avengers (4-3)
IP H R
ER BB SO
HR ERA SCORESHEET
C.Sabathia
4 1/3 3 0
0 2 3
0 1.10 A1 C1
K.Jansen 3 2/3 2
0 0 4
7 0 2.70
C2 E1
M.Rzepczynsk
0 0 0
0 1 0
0 ---- E2 E2
C.Kimbrel
3 0 0
0 2 4
0 0.00 E3 F4
J.Affeldt WIN(1-0)
1 0 0
0 1 1
0 0.00 F5
Totals
12 5 0
0 10 15 0
ATTENDANCE- 49,399 DATE- Wednesday, October 17th 2012
TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad
UMPIRES- Eric Cooper, Marty Foster, Derryl Cousins, Angel
Hernandez
T- 3:57
LEFT ON BASE- Walkers:17
Avengers: 4
DOUBLE PLAYS- Walkers: 1
Avengers: 0
ERRORS- A.McCutchen
HOME RUNS- J.Bautista(2nd)
STOLEN BASES- D.Wright(2nd)
SACRIFICE HITS- A.Cabrera
WALKS- C.Iannetta, A.Avila-2, M.Cabrera-2, J.Thome,
D.Wright, N.Markakis-2,
A.Cabrera,
R.Cano, L.Duda, M.Wieters
HIT BY PITCH- N.Markakis
No comments:
Post a Comment