 |
| Metropolis sent new Avenger Kris Medlen out for Game Two. |
Metropolis overcame three home runs by the visiting Fleetwood
Walkers and took Game One of the 2013 NLCS by a score of 6-4. Game Two is never truly a must-win, but there is no way the Walkers wanted to go back to
Fleetwood with a two-game deficit. Fleetwood's sent James Shields (17-6,
3.43 ERA) to the mound to face new Avenger addition Kris Medlen (8-0, 2.06 with
Metropolis; 12-5, 3.04 overall).
Both pitchers were on their game. Medlen worked around
singles to speedster Mike Trout in the first inning and Chase Utley in the
second while Shields was perfect in the bottom of the first. Alex Gordon
drew a walk from Shields to lead off the bottom of the second and David Freese
followed with a single to put two runners on with no outs. But Shields
wasn't too bothered, as he struck out Bryce Harper, Jose Bautista and Andy
Dirks to end any threat.
Fleetwood applied some pressure in the top of the third, as
designated hitter Nick Markakis doubled with one out. Matt Joyce was
fooled by Medlen and hit a grounder into the hole between first and second. Jose Bautista ranged far to his right and made the play, but then made a wild throw to first. The official scorer gave Joyce a single and Bautista an
error when on the throw. The errant throw sent Markakis
home with the first run of the game and Joyce to second base. The
Avengers chose to pitch to Walker slugger Miguel Cabrera, despite their being
two outs and a base open. He made them pay, hitting a clean single over
the shortstop's head, easily scoring Joyce to make the game 2-0.
| James Shields was just what Fleetwood needed in Game Two. |
Given his lead, Shields went about his work to make it stand up
and didn’t give Metropolis a chance to start a rally. He retired the Avengers in order in the
bottom of the fourth and fifth innings.
Metropolis had the top of their order scheduled for the bottom of the
sixth and Fleetwood had their bullpen active, ready to counter any Metropolis
momentum.
Avenger catcher Carlos Ruiz was hit by an errant Shields fastball
and gave the home team their first runner since the third inning. It’s hard to call a lead-off hit-by-pitch a
rally, but Metropolis had its two most dangerous hitters coming to bat –
Robinson Cano and Andrew McCutchen.
Shields made easy work of Cano but McCutchen wasn’t quite as easy. He worked the count full and then fouled off
three pitches. On the ninth pitch of the
at bat, McCutchen got a ball he could handle and hit it hard – but it was right
to third baseman David Wright for the second out of the inning.
With lefty Alex Gordon due up, Fleetwood quickly went to the
bullpen, bringing in Darren Oliver to relieve Shields. Metropolis countered with pinch hitter
Franklin Gutierrez, who was tied up by a Oliver changeup and grounded out to
end the inning. With that, the game
moved to the seventh and Fleetwood kept its 2-0 lead.
| Darren Oliver shut down Metropolis in the sixth and seventh innings. |
Metropolis tried again to rally in the seventh, after Freese led
off with a single and pinch hitter Yoenis Cespedes drew a one-out walk. That brought the go-ahead run to the plate
and the Avengers were one swing from taking the lead. Oliver, however, was up to the job and
retired Andy Dirks and struck out shortstop Jose Reyes to end the threat.
 |
| Jesus Guzman grounded out to end the game. |
Fleetwood brought in their defensive replacements for the bottom
of the eighth and they helped Oliver and righty Tom Wilhelmsen keep Metropolis in check
for the last two innings. The two
relievers combined for 3 1/3 innings of work with two hits and one walk
allowed. They struck out three Avenger
hitters and Wilhelmsen earned the save after setting down Metropolis in order in
the ninth.
Shields was the star of the game, allowing just three runners in
his 5 2/3 innings of work. That was just
what Fleetwood needed, as Medlen only allowed two runs himself. Medlen wasn't quite as sharp, allowing ten runners in his 6 2/3 innings. In the end, even one run would have been enough, as the Avengers couldn't put together enough hits to break the ice. Medlen took his first loss as an Avenger and Fleetwood took the game 2-0. That tied the series and both teams
packed their bags for three games in Fleetwood.
Coming Up – The momentum may have shifted, as Metropolis was
likely counting on another victory with Medlen on the mound. Instead, the teams find themselves in a
best-of-five series and Fleetwood now has the home-field advantage. Metropolis sends Doug Fister to the mound for Game Three and the Walkers will counter with Colby Lewis in the home whites. Given how good both two teams are, a single mistake pitch or bobbled ball could make all the difference.
And that's what's great about post-season baseball.
BOXSCORE: 2013
Fleetwood Walkers At 2013 Metropolis Avengers 10/22/2013
Walkers AB
R H RBI AVG Avengers AB
R H RBI AVG
N.Markakis DH 3
1 1 0 .273
C.Ruiz C 3 0
0 0 .259
M.Trout CF 4
0 1 0 .333
R.Cano 2B 4 0
2 0 .346
M.Joyce RF 3
1 1 0 .435
A.McCutchen CF 4 0
0 0 .375
D-T.Snider
PH,LF 1 0
0 0 .222 A.Gordon LF 1
0 0 0 .286
M.Cabrera 1B 4
0 2 1 .387
A-F.Gutierrez PH,LF 1 0
0 0 .500
D.Wright 3B 4
0 0 0 .294
F-M.Montero PH 1 0
0 0 .000
C.Utley 2B 4
0 2 0 .280
G-J.Gomes LF 0 0
0 0 .182
T.Hunter LF,RF 4
0 0 0 .161
D.Freese 3B 4 0
2 0 .360
C.Iannetta C 3
0 1 0 .286
B.Harper RF 4 0
0 0 .188
E-A.Avila C 1
0 0 0 .417
J.Bautista 1B 2 0
0 0 .067
A.Cabrera SS 2
0 0 0 .083
B-Y.Cespedes PH 0 0
0 0 .500
C-J.Guzman 1B 1 0
0 0 .000
A.Dirks DH 3 0
0 0 .364
J.Reyes SS 3
0 0 0 .182
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 33
2 8 1
Totals 31 0
4 0
A-Pinch Hit For
Gordon In 6th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For
Bautista In 7th Inning
C-Subbed
Defensively (1B) For Cespedes In 8th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For
Joyce In 8th Inning
E-Subbed
Defensively (C ) For Iannetta In 8th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For
Gutierrez In 8th Inning
G-Subbed
Defensively (LF) For Montero In 9th Inning
Walkers.........
0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
- 2 8 0
Avengers........
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
- 0 4 1
Walkers
(5-3) IP H
R ER BB
SO HR ERA
SCORESHEET
J.Shields
WIN(2-1) 5 2/3 2
0 0 1
5 0 1.66
A1 C3
D.Oliver HOLD(1st) 1 2/3
2 0 0
1 2 0
4.91 C4 D2
T.Wilhelmsen
SAVE(1st) 1 2/3 0
0 0 0
1 0 0.00
D3
Totals 9 4
0 0 2
8 0
Avengers
(5-1) IP H
R ER BB
SO HR ERA
SCORESHEET
K.Medlen
LOSS(1-1) 6 2/3 8
2 1 2
2 0 0.57
A1 D1
R.Valdes 1 0
0 0 0
1 0 0.00
D2 D4
K.Jansen 1 1/3 0
0 0 0
2 0 0.00
D5
Totals 9 8 2
1 2 5 0
ATTENDANCE-
31,616 DATE- Tuesday, October 22nd 2013 TIME- Day WEATHER- Bad
UMPIRES- Larry
Vanover, Mike Everitt, Mike Dimuro, Tim McClelland
T- 2:39
LEFT ON BASE-
Walkers: 6 Avengers: 7
DOUBLE PLAYS-
Walkers: 0 Avengers: 2
ERRORS-
J.Bautista
DOUBLES-
N.Markakis(1st), R.Cano(2nd)
STOLEN BASES-
C.Utley(1st)
WALKS-
N.Markakis, A.Cabrera, A.Gordon, Y.Cespedes
HIT BY PITCH-
C.Ruiz
STRIKE OUTS-
M.Joyce, T.Snider, C.Utley, T.Hunter, C.Iannetta, A.McCutchen-2,
D.Freese, B.Harper-2, J.Bautista,
A.Dirks, J.Reyes
GIDP- M.Trout,
D.Wright
2-out RBI-
M.Cabrera
RLISP 2-out-
C.Iannetta, A.Dirks, M.Joyce, D.Wright, A.McCutchen, M.Trout,
J.Reyes
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