Brassball World Series Metropolis vs. Santa Barbara - Game Six

Metropolis took a 3-2 lead into Game Six of the Brassball World Series and gave the ball to Kyle Lohse in search of its second Brassball title.  The hometown Outlaws sent Matt Garza to the hill with the mission of extending the series for one more game.

Curtis Granderson's catch saved a run in the first inning.

Metropolis jumped on Garza quickly when Andrew McCutchen hit a two-out double to score Jose Bautista.  Robinson Cano threatened for more, but center fielder Curtis Granderson tracked down his long fly to retire the side.  Metropolis had a one run lead and a one game lead before Santa Barbara even came to bat.

Alex Rodriguez's homer put
Santa Barbara ahead 3-1

The lead didn't last long.  Granderson lined out to start the bottom of the first, but Lohse then hit Elvis Andrus with a pitch and gave up a first-pitch double to Adrian Gonzalez to tie the game at one.  Alex Rodriguez followed with a home run, putting the Outlaws up 3-1.  Santa Barbara wasn't done, as Brandon Phillips doubled and Daniel Murphy and Carlos Santana followed with singles to push the score to 4-1 with still just one out.  Lohse clearly did not have his best stuff or his best control, but he proved it by hitting his second batter of the inning, Gerardo Parra.  That was all for Lohse, as Jeremy Affeldt came on to replace him.   Granderson came to bat for the second time and this time singled to score Murphy and push the score to 5-1.


With their starter out after 2/3 of an inning, the Avengers were forced to keep their bullpen active and ready for the rest of the game.  Affeldt allowed one inherited run to score, but made it through the second inning unscathed.  He gave way to Sergio Santos, who struck out the side in the fourth and gave the ball to Marc Rzepczynski with one out in the fifth.  Kenley Jansen, Stephen Strasburg and Craig Kimbrel followed, all keeping the Outlaws in check.  The Avenger bullpen combined for 7 1/3 IP with just five hits, one walk and eight strikeouts.  Their job was to let the Metropolis offense fight its way back, and they did all they could.

Elvis Andrus's defense helped Matt Garza out of trouble.

Garza was good but not great after that first-inning run and benefited from double plays in the second and fourth innings to keep the score 5-1.  He also worked around two singles in the sixth inning.  The Outlaw defense and Andrus in particular gave Garza an extra assist when he needed it.  Garza worked his way through the eighth inning with the game still 5-1.

Travis Hafner struck out to
end the game.

Moving to the ninth inning, Alex Gordon and McCutchen hit fly balls to start the ninth.  Both were well hit, but turned into outs by the Santa Barbara outfielders.  Cano singled to keep the Avengers alive and Corey Hart followed with another single to give them even more hope.  The Outlaws stayed with their starter, despite having Jim Johnson and Jonathon Papelbon up and ready in the bullpen.  Lucas Duda made them pay for that by taking a Garza fastball into the right field stands for a home run, cutting the lead to 5-4.  Johnson came in to face Matt Wieters, who was pulled for a pinch hitter.  Jesus Guzman worked a base on balls, bringing Travis Hafner to the plate as the go-ahead and World Series-winning run.  Papelbon came in to face Hafner and threw him five straight fastballs, striking him out to save the game and send the series to Game Seven.

Outlaw Justin Verlander and Avenger C.C. Sabathia have met twice already in the World Series, Verlander winning both times.  Verlander proved his reputation as the best pitcher in Brassball in Game Four, tossing seven scoreless innings with just one hit and eight strikeouts.  Sabathia will need a better performance than he gave in that same game, but the Avengers will have all hands on deck in their deep and talented bullpen should he need the help.

BOXSCORE: 2012 Metropolis Avengers At 2012 Santa Barbara Outlaws    11/8/2012

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

  J.Reyes SS          4  0  0  0 .207     C.Granderson CF     4  0  1  1 .290 

  J.Bautista 3B       4  1  1  0 .284     E.Andrus SS         3  1  0  0 .235 

  A.Gordon LF         4  0  1  0 .138     A.Gonzalez 1B       4  1  2  1 .323 

  A.McCutchen CF      4  0  3  1 .288     A.Rodriguez 3B      4  1  2  2 .217 

  R.Cano 2B           4  1  1  0 .179     C.Gonzalez RF       4  0  1  0 .302 

  C.Hart RF           4  1  1  0 .250     B.Phillips 2B       4  1  1  0 .175 

  L.Duda 1B           4  1  2  3 .250     D.Murphy DH         3  1  1  1 .265 

  M.Wieters C         2  0  0  0 .228     C.Santana C         4  0  1  0 .359 

A-J.Guzman PH         0  0  0  0 .174     G.Parra LF          3  0  1  0 .288 

  T.Hafner DH         4  0  0  0 .220                                         

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

         Totals      34  4  9  4                 Totals      33  5 10  5

A-Pinch Hit For Wieters In 9th Inning

Avengers........ 1 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 3  -  4  9  0

Outlaws......... 5 0 0  0 0 0  0 0    -  5 10  0

Avengers (11-9)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

K.Lohse LOSS(1-1)         0 2/3   5   5   5   0   0   1   4.76  A1 A9

J.Affeldt                 1 2/3   2   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  B1 B7

S.Santos                  2       0   0   0   0   4   0   3.00  B8 C4

M.Rzepczynsk              1       0   0   0   0   2   0   0.00  C5 C7

K.Jansen                  1       3   0   0   0   1   0   2.53  C8 D4

S.Strasburg               0 2/3   0   0   0   1   1   0   3.75  D5 D7

C.Kimbrel                 1       0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  D8

Totals                    8      10   5   5   1   8   1

Outlaws (11-5)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

M.Garza WIN(1-0)          8 2/3   9   4   4   1   5   1   4.63  A1 D7

J.Johnson                 0       0   0   0   1   0   0   2.08  D8 D8

J.Papelbon SAVE(4th)      0 1/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   2.45  D9

Totals                    9       9   4   4   2   6   1

ATTENDANCE- 48,564 DATE- Thursday, November 8th 2012 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average

UMPIRES- Laz Diaz, Tim Welke, Chuck Meriwether, Bill Welke

T- 3:14

LEFT ON BASE- Avengers: 5  Outlaws: 7

DOUBLE PLAYS- Avengers: 1  Outlaws: 2

DOUBLES- A.McCutchen(2nd), A.Gonzalez-2(5th), C.Gonzalez(4th), B.Phillips(5th)

TRIPLES- G.Parra(1st)

HOME RUNS- L.Duda(2nd), A.Rodriguez(1st)

WALKS- M.Wieters, J.Guzman, D.Murphy

HIT BY PITCH- E.Andrus, G.Parra

STRIKE OUTS- A.Gordon, R.Cano, C.Hart, L.Duda, T.Hafner-2, C.Granderson,

             E.Andrus-2, A.Gonzalez, A.Rodriguez, C.Gonzalez-2, B.Phillips

GIDP- R.Cano, T.Hafner, C.Santana

2-out RBI- A.McCutchen, D.Murphy, C.Granderson, L.Duda-3