NLDS - Metropolis vs. Fleetwood - Game Three

Zack Greinke looked to give the Walkers a series lead.

Knotted at one game each, the National League Division Series moved to Fleetwood for the middle three games.  The hitters were happy to be leaving the Hall of Justice behind and moving to a more friendly John Locke Field.  They would have their work cut out for them, however, as starting pitchers Zack Greinke (17-5, 3.78) and Alexi Ogando (10-6, 3.11) were no slouches during the regular season.

The visiting Avengers didn't wait long to jump on Greinke.  Shortstop Jose Reyes stayed hot and singled on the game's second pitch.  Andrew McCutchen followed that with another single and Metropolis had thoughts of a big inning.  Perhaps hoping to slow things down and give Greinke a breather, Fleetwood catcher Alex Avila called time for a quick chat before Robinson Cano came to bat.  Cano took two pitches before pulling a weak grounder that second baseman Dustin Ackley turned into a double play.  Avenger cleanup hitter Jose Bautista wasn't deterred, however, and he drove Reyes home with a clean single right up the middle, giving the visitors a quick 1-0 lead.

Nick Markakis watches his leadoff homer.

The Walkers didn't stay behind for long, as leadoff hitter Nick Markakis crushed a leadoff homerun deep into the right field stands on a hanging Ogando breaking ball.  The team kept hitting Ogando hard as Ackley followed with a single and Miguel Cabrera hit a towering fly ball to left field that somehow stayed in the park.  Another single by Carlos Beltan made it four hard hit balls in a row and put runners on first and second.  The rally was cut short by an unlikely misplay, however.  Alex Aliva lofted a fly ball to right and Beltran, a normally brilliant base runner, was thrown out by Corey Hart as he tried to advance to third, ending the inning.  Beltran struggled to explain the play after the game.  "What can I say?  He got me.  He's got a good arm and he got me."  Fleetwood had tied the game 1-1 but likely felt as if they had missed a chance to put a bigger number on the board.

Despite their shaky starts, both starters settled down and cruised through the next few innings, keeping the game tied 1-1 going into the fifth.  Greinke retired the Avengers in order in the top of the fifth and Walkers number nine hitter Brian Bogusevic led off the bottom with a single.  The Metropolis bullpen quickly got busy, as relief ace Craig Kimbrel and lefty Jeremy Affeldt got ready.  Markakis doubled off Ogando and Metropolis went to the pen, calling on Kimbrel to keep the game tied.

Howie Kendrick Drives in Two Runs against Craig Kimbrel

With runners on second and third, Kimbrel needed a strikeout.  Luckily for him, that's his specialty and he struck out a startling 44 hitters in 29 1/3 innings after coming to Metropolis in a midseason trade.  Pinch hitter Howie Kendrick, however, fought off some nasty pitches and finally made contact on a 97 MPH fastball and got enough to pull the ball past the drawn-in Reyes, scoring both Bogusevic and Markakis and putting Fleetwood up 3-1.

Given the tight nature of the series thus far, a two-run lead seemed nearly insurmountable.  Greinke pitched an uneventful sixth and was relieved after Bautista led off the seventh with another single.  Eduardo Sanchez got two outs but then allowed a Lucas Duda single and walked Corey Hart to load the bases.   Walker Manager Rube Foster went to the mound, but it looked like Sanchez convinced Foster to leave him in the game to face DH Travis Hafner.  Whatever he said to his manager, Sanchez got the job done and struck Hafner out to end the threat and maintain the 2-1 Fleetwood lead.

Walker relievers Darren Oliver, Jason Grilli and J.J. Putz combined to shut down the Avengers the rest of the way.  Pinch hitter Jesus Guzman did hit a one-out double in the top of the ninth, but Duda and Hart could only manage easy fly balls as Putz closed out the Walker win.

Another nail-biter put Fleetwood up two games to one and gave them some momentum in the Division Series.  They would send staff ace Chris Carpenter to the mound for game four, hoping to avenge the game one loss in a rematch with Metropolis horse C.C. Sabathia.

BOXSCORE: 2012 Metropolis Avengers At 2012 Fleetwood Walkers       10/12/2012

Avengers           AB  R  H RBI AVG     Walkers            AB  R  H RBI AVG

  J.Reyes SS          4  1  2  0 .538     N.Markakis CF,RF    3  2  3  1 .192 

  A.McCutchen CF      4  0  2  0 .333     D.Ackley 2B         2  0  1  0 .133 

  R.Cano 2B           4  0  0  0 .083   A-H.Kendrick PH,2B    1  0  1  2 .286 

  J.Bautista 3B       3  0  2  0 .273     M.Cabrera 1B        4  0  0  0 .143 

  A.Gordon LF         4  0  0  0 .167     C.Beltran LF        4  0  1  0 .214 

  M.Wieters C         3  0  0  0 .111     A.Avila C           4  0  0  0 .125 

C-J.Guzman PH         1  0  1  0 .500     D.Wright 3B         3  0  1  0 .138 

  L.Duda 1B           4  0  1  0 .182     M.Joyce RF          3  0  1  0 .318 

  C.Hart RF           3  0  0  0 .200   B-M.Trout CF          0  0  0  0 .429 

  T.Hafner DH         3  0  0  0 .250     A.Cabrera SS        4  0  0  0 .241 

                                          B.Bogusevic DH      3  1  2  0 .667 

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     

         Totals      33  1  8  0                 Totals      31  3 10  3

A-Pinch Hit For Ackley In 5th Inning

B-Subbed Defensively (CF) For Joyce In 9th Inning

C-Pinch Hit For Wieters In 9th Inning

Avengers........ 1 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  1  8  1

Walkers......... 1 0 0  0 2 0  0 0    -  3 10  0

Avengers (1-2)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

A.Ogando LOSS(0-1)        4       6   3   3   1   2   1   6.75  A1 C1

C.Kimbrel                 2 1/3   2   0   0   2   1   0   0.00  C2 D2

D.Herndon                 0 2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  D3 D3

S.Strasburg               1       2   0   0   0   2   0   0.00  D4

[1]Totals                    8      10   3   3   3   5   1

Walkers (6-2)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

Z.Greinke WIN(2-0)        6       5   1   1   1   6   0   0.71  A1 C4

E.Sanchez HOLD(3rd)       1       1   0   0   1   2   0   0.00  C5 C9

D.Oliver                  0       1   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  D1 D1

J.Grilli HOLD(1st)        1       0   0   0   0   1   0   4.50  D2 D4

J.Putz SAVE(2nd)          1       1   0   0   0   1   0   3.52  D5

[1]Totals                    9       8   1   1   2  10   0

ATTENDANCE- 48,202 DATE- Friday, October 12th 2012 TIME- Day WEATHER- Average

UMPIRES- Dan Iassogna, Dale Scott, Bill Hohn, Ron Kulpa

T- 2:41

LEFT ON BASE- Avengers: 7  Walkers: 8

DOUBLE PLAYS- Avengers: 3  Walkers: 2

ERRORS- J.Reyes

DOUBLES- J.Guzman(1st), N.Markakis(1st), B.Bogusevic(1st)

HOME RUNS- N.Markakis(2nd)

SACRIFICE HITS- N.Markakis

WALKS- J.Bautista, C.Hart, H.Kendrick, D.Wright, M.Joyce

STRIKE OUTS- A.McCutchen-2, A.Gordon-3, L.Duda, C.Hart, T.Hafner-3, C.Beltran-2,

             A.Avila, M.Joyce, A.Cabrera

GIDP- R.Cano-2, M.Cabrera-2