With two wins each, hometown Glen Allen Mets and visiting
Metropolis Avengers both hoped to win Game Five of their National League
Division Series. The Mets sent free agent acquisition Jon Lester to the mound
and the Avengers countered with Clay Buchholz, himself an off-season
acquisition.
 |
| Yoenis Cespedes powered Metropolis to a 5-4 win. |
Lester never looked comfortable and surrendered a one-out
double to Metropolis center fielder Andrew McCutchen in the top of the first. Lester did induce a
ground ball from slugger Chris Davis, but then issued an intentional walk to
clean-up hitter Jayson Werth. It was a gutsy call and signaled the Mets were
going to manage aggressively right from the start. Yoenis Cespedes followed the walk to
Werth and Metropolis hoped to breakthrough for the first run of the game. Cespedes
didn’t let them down, catching up to a Lester fastball for a towering homerun
and a 3-0 Metropolis lead.
The Mets knew there was a long way to go and leadoff hitter
Coco Crisp certainly wasn’t giving up. He surprised Buchholz by hitting a homer
of his own to put the Mets on the board. Buchholz retired the next three
batters in order and the game was 3-1 Avengers.
 |
| Carlos Quentin hit a solo shot. |
Metropolis DH Carlos Quentin got that run back when he hit a
solo homer of his own in the second inning. Robinson Cano also hit a two-out
double, but was stranded there when McCutchen flied out to Andre Ethier to end
the inning.
Both starters settled down after those early fireworks, at
least until Cespedes led off the top of the sixth. Lester challenged him again,
throwing a 1-0 fastball in nearly the exact location he had in the first
inning. Cespedes knew just what to do with it, hitting another homer deep into
the left field bleachers, stretching the Metropolis lead to 5-1.
That seemingly put the game out of reach, as Glen Allen’s
bats were mostly silent after Crisps’s homer. That changed in the bottom of the
sixth when Ian Kinsler singled and Ethier walked. A Buchholz wild pitch moved
them to second and third base with two outs and slugger Hunter Pence at the
plate. Buchholz won the battle and retired Pence to protect the 5-1 lead.
 |
| Hunter Pence's homer wasn't enough. |
Metropolis sent Buchholz back out for the eighth inning,
perhaps because their bullpen was a bit fatigued after games three and four.
Buchholz got the first two outs but then gave up a solo homer to Ethier,
cutting the lead to 5-2. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a single and Metropolis
went to the bullpen. They called on righty Nick Vincent, but he got behind
Pence 3-0. Pence had the green light to swing at what he knew would be a
fastball. Vincent didn’t disappoint and Pence was ready, catching up with the
96 MPH heater and pulling it down the line for a two-run homer and a 5-4 game.
Vincent did retire catcher Jason Castro on a popup, but hometown fans were
energized and the Mets appeared to have momentum.
Met relievers Dillon Gee, Tim Collins, and Tommy Hunter
retired the Avengers in the ninth and Metropolis left Vincent in to start the
bottom of the inning. He retired righties Alan Craig and Alexi Ramirez before
giving the ball to Craig Kimbrel to face Pablo Sandoval. Kimbrel did his job,
inducing a weak ground from the Met third baseman for the last out.
Cespedes’s two homers gave Metropolis a 3-2 series lead as
the teams headed back to Metropolis for Game Six and, possibly, Game Seven.
BOXSCORE: 2014
Metropolis Avengers At 2014 Glen Allen Mets 10/13/2014
Avengers AB
R H RBI AVG Mets AB R H
RBI AVG
R.Cano 2B 4
0 1 0 .158
C.Crisp CF 4 1
1 1 .176
A.McCutchen CF 5
1 1 0 .318
A.Ethier LF 3 1
1 1 .235
C.Davis 1B 2
0 0 0 .111
A.Gonzalez 1B 4 1
1 0 .350
J.Werth RF 3
1 0 0 .143
H.Pence RF 4 1
1 2 .278
Y.Cespedes LF 4
2 3 4 .417
J.Castro C 4 0
1 0 .353
J.Bautista 3B 4
0 0 0 .118
A.Craig DH 4 0
0 0 .250
M.Wieters C 4
0 0 0 .364
A.Ramirez SS 4 0
1 0 .286
C.Quentin DH 4
1 2 1 .316
P.Sandoval 3B 4 0
0 0 .111
J.Reyes SS 4
0 1 0 .250
I.Kinsler 2B 3 0
1 0 .250
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 34
5 8 5
Totals 34 4
7 4
Avengers........
3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
- 5 8 0
Mets............
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
- 4 7 1
Avengers
(3-2) IP H
R ER BB
SO HR ERA
SCORESHEET
C.Buchholz
WIN(2-0) 7 2/3 6
3 3 1
4 2 2.70
A1 D3
N.Vincent
HOLD(2nd) 1 1
1 1 0
1 1 3.00
D4 D7
C.Kimbrel
SAVE(2nd) 0 1/3 0
0 0 0
0 0 0.00
D8
Totals 9 7
4 4 1
5 3
Mets (2-3) IP H
R ER BB
SO HR ERA
SCORESHEET
J.Lester
LOSS(0-2) 7 2/3 8
5 5 3
4 3 5.14
A1 D6
D.Gee 0 2/3 0
0 0 0
2 0 0.00
D7 D8
T.Collins 0 1/3 0
0 0 1
0 0 0.00
D9 E1
T.Hunter 0 1/3 0
0 0 0
0 0 4.50
E2
Totals 9 8
5 5 4
6 3
ATTENDANCE-
49,607 DATE- Monday, October 13th 2014 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Tim
Welke, Chuck Meriwether, Bill Welke, Laz Diaz
T- 2:26
LEFT ON BASE-
Avengers: 6 Mets: 4
DOUBLE PLAYS-
Avengers: 0 Mets: 2
ERRORS- J.Lester
DOUBLES-
R.Cano(1st), A.McCutchen(2nd), J.Castro(3rd)
HOME RUNS-
Y.Cespedes-2(2nd), C.Quentin(3rd), C.Crisp(1st), A.Ethier(1st),
H.Pence(3rd)
RBIs- Y.Cespedes-4(4th),
C.Quentin(4th), C.Crisp(1st), A.Ethier(1st),
H.Pence-2(5th)
WALKS- R.Cano,
C.Davis-2, J.Werth, A.Ethier
STRIKE OUTS-
Y.Cespedes, J.Bautista-2, M.Wieters-2, C.Quentin, C.Crisp,
A.Ethier, A.Craig, P.Sandoval,
I.Kinsler
GIDP- J.Werth,
C.Quentin
WILD PITCHES-
C.Buchholz
2-out RBI-
Y.Cespedes-3, A.Ethier, H.Pence-2
RLISP 2-out-
A.McCutchen, R.Cano, H.Pence-2, P.Sandoval, M.Wieters
WEB GEMS- Top
4th: Pablo Sandoval robbed Matt Wieters of a base hit.
Top 8th: Coco Crisp robbed Jayson
Werth of an extra base hit.
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