Brassball World Series Metropolis vs. Santa Barbara - Game Three

Tied after two games, the Brassball World Series moved from Santa Barbara to Metropolis for the middle three games.  The hometown Avengers sent young starter Alexi Ogando to the hill to face Outlaw Jeremy Hellickson and his 20-1 regular season record.  Both teams knew Game Three was critical to the series and had their bullpens ready at a moment's notice, should their starter prove unable to handle the pressure of the World Series.

That wasn't needed, as Ogando and Hellickson looked in control from the start.  Hellickson had one hiccup in the bottom of the second when he momentarily lost his release point and loaded the bases with a single and two hit batters.  He escaped without any damage after Travis Hafner hit a fly ball to end the inning.

Carlos Santana's home run put the Outlaws on the board.

The next few innings went quickly as neither pitcher allowed a hit in the third or fourth.  Ogando started the top of the fifth in the same way, retiring Brandon Phillips on a foul out and Daniel Murphy with a fly ball.  That brought catcher Carlos Santana to the plate with the game still 0-0.  Ogando made Santana look bad with a wicked off-speed pitch, but Santana then caught up to a fastball and hit it over the right field fence for a homer and a 1-0 Outlaw lead.


Hellickson cruised through the bottom of the fifth and the Avengers went to their bullpen for the sixth.  Jeremy Affeldt came in to face Curtis Granderson, who he promptly walked.  Elvis Andrus bunted Granderson into scoring position, but Affledt got out of the inning by inducing weak contact by Santa Barbara three and four hitters Adrian Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez.

Buster Posey's single drove in Brandon Phillips.

Santa Barbara started another rally in the seventh, putting two on with one out.  Pinch hitter Buster Posey singled off Stephen Strasburg to score Phillips, who had doubled.  Eduardo Nunez tried to score on a Gerardo Parra ground ball, but was nailed at the plate by a perfect throw from first baseman Lucas Duda.  Santa Barbara scored one run to make it 2-0, but could have really opened up the game with another clutch hit or even a lucky break.

Time was running out for Metropolis as the game moved to the seventh.  But Corey Hart led off the inning with a single to try and start a comeback.  Santa Barbara called on Kyle Farnsworth to relieve Hellickson with Duda coming to the plate.  Duda got the best of the matchup, slugging a fastball into the stands for an easy homer to make it a tie game.  Metropolis wasn't done, as Matt Wieters and Travis Hafner followed with singles to keep the pressure on and restart the rally.  Matt Adams came in to replace Farnsworth and induced a ground ball from Jose Reyes.  However, that grounder was enough to score Wieters and put Metropolis in the lead.  Next up, Jose Bautista hit a line drive in the gap for a double and another Metropolis run.  Alex Gordon hit a long fly that the Hall of Justice held, but it was deep enough for a sacrifice fly and a 5-2 Avenger lead.

Lucas Duda's home run tied the game 2-2.

Once Metropolis had the lead, they trusted their deep bullpen to protect it and close out the game.  Strasburg gave way to David Herndon, who retired Andrus, and Craig Kimbrel got the last five outs to earn the save and put Metropolis up two games to one.

Both teams are scheduled to send their Game One starters out for Game Four.  Santa Barbara won that game behind Justin Verlander, while Metropolis hopes C.C. Sabathia lasts longer than the four innings he went in Game One.  

BOXSCORE: 2012 Santa Barbara Outlaws At 2012 Metropolis Avengers    11/4/2012

  Outlaws            AB  R  H RBI AVG     Avengers           AB  R  H RBI AVG

  C.Granderson CF     2  0  0  0 .300     J.Reyes SS          4  1  0  1 .229 

  E.Andrus SS         2  0  0  0 .262     J.Bautista 3B       3  1  1  1 .298 

  A.Gonzalez 1B       4  0  1  0 .308     A.Gordon LF         3  0  0  1 .147 

  A.Rodriguez 3B      4  0  0  0 .206     A.McCutchen CF      4  0  2  0 .274 

  C.Gonzalez RF       4  0  1  0 .327     R.Cano 2B           4  0  0  0 .194 

  B.Phillips 2B       4  1  1  0 .173     C.Hart RF           3  1  2  0 .259 

  D.Murphy DH         2  0  0  0 .286     L.Duda 1B           3  1  2  2 .224 

A-E.Nunez PH,DH       0  0  0  0 .000     M.Wieters C         3  1  1  0 .224 

C-S.Smith PH          0  0  0  0 .429     T.Hafner DH         4  0  1  0 .244 

  C.Santana C         2  1  1  1 .375                                         

B-B.Posey PH,C        2  0  1  1 .333                                          

  G.Parra LF          3  0  0  0 .289                                         

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

         Totals      29  2  5  2                 Totals      31  5  9  5

A-Pinch Hit For Murphy In 7th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Santana In 7th Inning

C-Pinch Hit For Nunez In 9th Inning

Outlaws......... 0 0 0  0 1 0  1 0 0  -  2  5  0

Avengers........ 0 0 0  0 0 0  5 0    -  5  9  0

Outlaws (9-4)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

J.Hellickson              6       3   1   1   2   0   0   1.96  A1 C6

K.Farnsworth L(0-1)B(1st) 0       3   3   3   0   0   1   6.75  C7 C9

M.Adams                   0 2/3   1   1   1   0   0   0   2.16  D1 D3

D.Storen                  1 1/3   2   0   0   0   0   0   0.90  D4

Totals                    8       9   5   5   2   0   1

Avengers (10-7)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

A.Ogando                  5       2   1   1   1   3   1   2.75  A1 B9

J.Affeldt                 1 1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   0.00  C1 C5

S.Santos                  0       1   1   1   0   0   0   5.14  C6 C6

S.Strasburg WIN(1-1)      0 2/3   1   0   0   1   0   0   3.97  C7 D1

D.Herndon                 0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0  12.00  D2 D2

M.Rzepczynsk              0       1   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  D3 D3

C.Kimbrel SAVE(3rd)       1 2/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   0.00  D4

Totals                    9       5   2   2   4   3   1

ATTENDANCE- 47,725 DATE- Sunday, November 4th 2012 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad

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

T- 3:05

LEFT ON BASE- Outlaws: 6  Avengers: 7

DOUBLE PLAYS- Outlaws: 1  Avengers: 1

DOUBLES- B.Phillips(3rd), J.Bautista(5th)

HOME RUNS- C.Santana(2nd), L.Duda(1st)

SACRIFICE HITS- E.Andrus-2

SACRIFICE FLIES- A.Gordon

WALKS- C.Granderson-2, E.Nunez, S.Smith, J.Bautista, C.Hart

HIT BY PITCH- L.Duda, M.Wieters

STRIKE OUTS- E.Andrus, A.Gonzalez, C.Gonzalez

GIDP- A.Rodriguez, A.Gordon

2-out RBI- C.Santana