With the Metropolis Avengers and Fleetwood Walkers tied 1-1
in the NLCS, both Doug Fister and Colby Lewis brought their best stuff to Game
Three.
| Doug Fister was great in the early innings. |
Lewis got himself into trouble in the first,
bobbling an easy Alex Gordon grounder to put two guys on with two outs. Lewis then got out of the trouble, as David Freese hit a sharp grounder which
Asdrubal Cabrera fielded cleanly to end the inning and the early Metropolis
threat.
Fister was brilliant in the early going. He retired the first six Walkers in the game
and allowed just one
baserunner through three innings. Lewis and Fister combined to retire 20 of 21
hitters in the early innings, each looking sharp and in complete control.  |
| Cabrera stayed in the park, but his fly ball scored the first run of the game. |
In the bottom of the fourth, Fleetwood put together what
counted as a rally in this game. Carlos Quentin hit a
grounder between third and short which David Freese fielded after ranging far
to his left. He probably should have
held onto the ball, but Freese threw wide of first and Quentin advanced all the way
to third on the throwing error. That
brought Miguel Cabrera, the Brassball home run and RBI leader to the plate. Fister chose to pitch to the slugger and he
got the out, but it was a long fly ball that scored Quentin easily and put
Fleetwood on the board first, 1-0.
| Dirks tied it with a solo homer. |
Lewis stayed strong into the fifth, getting two quick
grounders from Bryce Harper and Jose Bautista.
The last hitter in the Metropolis lineup wasn’t going to go so
easily. Lewis got ahead of Andy Dirks
0-2, but Dirks worked the count back to even before he got a pitch to handle. Dirks didn’t miss it and suddenly the game
was tied, 1-1. Thanks to a Dirks homer that hugged the right-field line.
After allowing one run each, both Fister and Lewis returned
to their quick and easy innings. Given
the importance of the game and the teams’ strong bullpens, both starters knew
they were likely on a short leash. They
each went 1-2-3 in the fifth inning, but Fister hit Nick Markakis with an
off-speed pitch to lead off the sixth inning.
With the heart of the Fleetwood order coming up, Metropolis called on
lefty Raul Valdes to keep the score tied.
Valdes did allow a two-out single to Miguel Cabrera, but stranded both
runners and the game moved to the seventh inning.
Darren Oliver kept the Avengers off the board in the seventh
inning while Metropolis reliever Kenley Jansen did the same. The Avengers had the go-ahead run on base to
start the eighth after a Dirks single.
He was quickly erased when the Walkers turned a textbook double play on
a Jose Reyes ground ball. With two outs,
Carlos Ruiz hit a lazy fly ball and the game stayed tied.
Markakis drew a walk off Jansen to start the eighth and
Metropolis called on another lefty to face Mike Trout, Carlos Quentin and
Miguel Cabrera. Aroldis Chapman had his
typically electric stuff, with his fastball hitting 104 and his slider breaking
hard. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't control his stuff and he walked Trout on five pitches. Chapman harnessed his stuff to strike out
Quentin but then lost Cabrera on another walk.
The Walkers had the bases loaded, without even putting a ball in play, and just one out. Chapman focused enough to blow three fastballs past David Wright for another strikeout and the second out of the inning
 |
| Nick Markakis slides into home with the go-ahead run after an Arolis Chapman wild pitch. |
Fleetwood’s five batters in the eighth inning went BB – BB –
K – BB – K, but Chapman was one out from escaping with the score still tied. Of course, Fleetwood was just one hit from taking the
lead. Given the way the inning had gone,
it should have been predictable that Chapman would bury a slider in the dirt. Ruiz wasn’t able to smother the pitch and it
got away far enough for Markakis to slide in just ahead of the throw, scoring the go-ahead run. After the damage was done, Chapman threw two
strikes, one of which Chase Utley hit into centerfield for an easy out. Fleetwood had taken the lead and needed just
three outs to take the game and the series lead.
| Miguel Montero struck out to end the game. |
Metropolis had just one run in the game (and none in the
previous game), but they had their best hitters coming to the plate. Robinson Cano led off and Oliver quickly struck him
out looking. Fleetwood then called on righty
Tom Wilhelmsen, who he got the second out on a sharp grounder from
McCutchen. Alex Gordon followed
McCutchen and singled to left field, giving Metropolis hope for a two-out
rally. David Freese was the scheduled
hitter, but lefty Miguel Montero grabbed a bat and tried to keep the inning
going. Wilhelmsen focused on the hitter
while Gordon stole second to move into scoring position. In the end, that base didn’t matter, as
Wilhelmsen threw nothing but fastballs to Montero and struck him out on four
pitches to end the game.
Game Three was similar Game Two – the pitchers dominated and
the few runs that were scored were due more to mistakes than offensive
rallies. All that mattered to Fleetwood
was that they had the “2” and not the “1” at the end of the game. Those numbers represented the score for the
game and also for the series, as the Walkers used home-field advantage to take
the series lead, two games to one.
BOXSCORE: 2013
Metropolis Avengers At 2013 Fleetwood Walkers 10/24/2013
Avengers AB
R H RBI AVG Walkers AB
R H RBI AVG
C.Ruiz C 4
0 0 0 .226
N.Markakis LF 2 1
0 0 .250
R.Cano 2B 4
0 0 0 .300
A-M.Joyce RF 0 0
0 0 .435
A.McCutchen CF 4
0 1 0 .357
M.Trout CF 3 0
0 0 .306
A.Gordon LF 4
0 1 0 .278
C.Quentin DH 4 1
1 0 .353
D.Freese 3B 2
0 0 0 .333
M.Cabrera 1B 2 0
1 1 .394
B-M.Montero
PH 1 0
0 0 .000 D.Wright 3B 3
0 0 0 .270
B.Harper RF 3
0 0 0 .158
C.Utley 2B 4 0
0 0 .241
J.Bautista 1B 3
0 0 0 .056
T.Hunter RF,LF 3 0
0 0 .147
A.Dirks DH 3
1 2 1 .429
C.Iannetta C 3 0
1 0 .294
J.Reyes SS 3
0 0 0 .160
A.Cabrera SS 3 0
1 0 .111
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 31
1 4 1
Totals 27 2
4 1
A-Subbed
Defensively (RF) For Markakis In 9th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For
Freese In 9th Inning
Avengers........
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
- 1 4 1
Walkers.........
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
- 2 4 1
Avengers
(5-2) IP H
R ER BB
SO HR ERA
SCORESHEET
D.Fister 5 2
1 0 1
3 0 3.38
A1 C1
R.Valdes 1 1
0 0 0
1 0 0.00
C2 C5
K.Jansen
LOSS(0-1) 1 1
1 1 1
2 0 2.08
C6 D1
A.Chapman 1 0
0 0 2
2 0 0.00
D2
Totals 8 4
2 1 4
8 0
Walkers
(6-3) IP H
R ER BB
SO HR ERA
SCORESHEET
C.Lewis 6 2
1 1 0
3 1 1.46
A1 C3
D.Oliver
WIN(1-0) 2 1/3 1
0 0 1
1 0 3.00
C4 D2
T.Wilhelmsen
SAVE(2nd) 0 2/3 1
0 0 0
1 0 0.00
D3
Totals 9 4
1 1 1
5 1
ATTENDANCE-
45,166 DATE- Thursday, October 24th 2013 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
UMPIRES- Dale
Scott, Bill Hohn, Ron Kulpa, Dan Iassogna
T- 2:17
LEFT ON BASE-
Avengers: 4 Walkers: 7
DOUBLE PLAYS- Avengers:
0 Walkers: 1
ERRORS- D.Freese,
C.Lewis
DOUBLES-
A.McCutchen(2nd)
HOME RUNS-
A.Dirks(1st)
STOLEN BASES-
A.Gordon(1st)
SACRIFICE FLIES-
M.Cabrera
WALKS- D.Freese,
N.Markakis, M.Trout, M.Cabrera, D.Wright
HIT BY PITCH-
N.Markakis
STRIKE OUTS-
R.Cano, A.McCutchen, M.Montero, B.Harper, A.Dirks, C.Quentin,
D.Wright-2, T.Hunter-2,
C.Iannetta-2, A.Cabrera
GIDP- J.Reyes
WILD PITCHES-
A.Chapman
2-out RBI-
A.Dirks
RLISP 2-out-
A.Gordon, D.Freese, D.Wright, C.Utley-4, M.Montero
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