2014 Brassball World Series - Cook County vs. Metropolis - Game Three

The Metropolis Avengers took their 2-0 series lead on the road to Veeck Field, home of the AL Champion Cook County Maulers. The Maulers sent Jordan Zimmermann (16-6, 3.30) to the mound to face Avenger Justin Masterson (6-3, 2.53 after a mid-season trade).

Carlos Quentin's solo homer started the scoring.

Metropolis started the scoring in the top of the second, when designated hitter Carlos Quentin caught up to a fastball for a solo homer and a 1-0 Avenger lead. Quentin missed much of the regular season, but is healthy and hot in the playoffs, as the homer was his fifth of the postseason, easily leading the team.

David Ortiz singled to start the bottom of the second. After two outs, shortstop JJ Hardy ripped a single to right and Ortiz aggressively moved to third. Catcher Victor Martinez came through with a clutch, two-out single to score Ortiz and tie the game at one. Ninth place hitter DJ Lemahieu had a chance to put the Maulers ahead, but Masterson caught him looking for a strikeout to end the inning.

Andrew McCutchen drove in the go-ahead run.

Metropolis third baseman Jose Bautista started the third by driving a ball over Shin Soo Choo's head for a lead-off double. He moved to third on a Robinson Cano ground out and scored the go-ahead run when Andrew McCutchen put another ball over Choo's head. Zimmermann took the rest of the inning into his own hands by striking out Chris Davis and Jayson Werth to strand McCutchen at second. Still, the damage was done and Metropolis had a 2-1 lead.

McCutchen's catch turned two runs into two outs.

Masterson had a thin lead and did his best to make it stand up, setting down the next nine batters he faced to breeze through the third, fourth and fifth innings. The Avengers added to their lead in the top of the fifth when McCutchen drove home Cano with a line drive. Mauler reliever Tony Watson pitched the sixth and allowed another run when Metropolis strung together singles by Bryce Harper, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jose Reyes. That pushed the score to 4-1 Metropolis and had the hometown fans nearly silent as Cook County was looking at going down three games to zero.

The Maulers started a rally in the bottom of the sixth when Christian Yelich singled and reliever Caleb Thielbar walked pinch hitter Ryan Raburn. Evan Longoria was the tying run and drove a Thielbar changeup to deep center field. McCutchen went back on the ball and made an incredible leaping catch to retire Longoria for the first out. Yelich expected to score on the long drive but instead had to scramble back to second to avoid a double play. McCutchen followed his great catch with a perfect throw to nail Yelich, turning would could have been a two-run double into an 8-4 double play. 

McCutchen's double play seemed to take the air out of Cook County. David Ortiz hit a shallow fly ball to end the bottom of the sixth and Metropolis loaded the bases in the top of the seventh. They only scored one run, and that one on a Longoria error, but the 5-1 lead seemed insurmountable to nearly everyone in the ballpark.

The Metropolis bullpen combined to make sure the Maulers didn't put together a rally. Or even a baserunner. Thielbar got two outs in the seventh and passed the ball to Kenley Jansen, who retired seven batters in order to close out the game, a 5-1 win which gave the Avengers a commanding 3-0 lead in the World Series.

In the deepest hole possible, the Maulers need something to jump start their team and are turning to Max Scherzer on three days rest. He'll be matched by Avenger starter Kyle Lohse, who will look to keep the Cook County bats quiet. The Maulers averaged 5.15 runs during the regular season but have scored only a single run in each of their three World Series losses.

BOXSCORE: 2014 Metropolis Avengers At 2014 Cook County Maulers      11/4/2014

  Avengers           AB  R  H RBI AVG     Maulers            AB  R  H RBI AVG

  R.Cano 2B           5  1  1  0 .283     C.Yelich RF         4  0  1  0 .154 

  A.McCutchen CF      5  1  3  2 .345     S.Choo LF           2  0  1  0 .195 

  C.Davis 1B          4  0  1  0 .194   A-R.Raburn PH,LF      1  0  0  0 .211 

  J.Werth RF          4  0  1  0 .213     E.Longoria 3B       4  0  0  0 .242 

  B.Harper LF         5  1  1  0 .171     D.Ortiz DH          4  1  1  0 .236 

  C.Quentin DH        4  1  1  2 .255     A.Jones CF          3  0  0  0 .140 

  J.Saltalamacchia C  4  0  2  0 .333     P.Fielder 1B        3  0  0  0 .212 

  J.Reyes SS          4  0  1  1 .196     J.Hardy SS          3  0  1  0 .237 

  J.Bautista 3B       4  1  1  0 .122     V.Martinez C        3  0  1  1 .250 

                                          D.Lemahieu 2B       3  0  0  0 .079 

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

         Totals      39  5 12  5                 Totals      30  1  5  1

A-Pinch Hit For Choo In 6th Inning

Avengers........ 0 1 1  0 1 1  1 0 0  -  5 12  0

Maulers......... 0 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  1  5  1

Avengers (11-3)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

J.Masterson WIN(3-0)      5       5   1   1   0   7   0   3.44  A1 C1

C.Thielbar HOLD(3rd)      1 2/3   0   0   0   1   1   0   0.56  C2 C6

K.Jansen                  2 1/3   0   0   0   0   2   0   0.87  C7

Totals                    9       5   1   1   1  10   0

Maulers (8-8)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

J.Zimmermann LOSS(0-1)    5       7   3   3   0   5   1   6.00  A1 C4

T.Watson                  1       3   1   1   0   2   0   4.09  C5 D1

J.Henderson               0       1   1   1   2   0   0   5.00  D2 D4

D.Robertson               3       1   0   0   0   3   0   0.00  D5

Totals                    9      12   5   5   2  10   1

ATTENDANCE- 48,222 DATE- Tuesday, November 4th 2014 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad

UMPIRES- Mike Dimuro, Tim McClelland, Larry Vanover, Mike Everitt

T- 2:38

LEFT ON BASE- Avengers: 9  Maulers: 3

DOUBLE PLAYS- Avengers: 2  Maulers: 1

ERRORS- E.Longoria

DOUBLES- R.Cano(7th), A.McCutchen-2(7th), J.Werth(2nd), J.Saltalamacchia(2nd),

         J.Bautista(2nd)

HOME RUNS- C.Quentin(5th)

RBIs- A.McCutchen-2(10th), C.Quentin-2(11th), J.Reyes(3rd), V.Martinez(1st)

WALKS- C.Davis, J.Werth, R.Raburn

STRIKE OUTS- R.Cano, C.Davis-2, J.Werth-2, B.Harper-2, J.Reyes, J.Bautista-2,

             C.Yelich-3, E.Longoria, A.Jones, P.Fielder-3, V.Martinez,

             D.Lemahieu

GIDP- J.Saltalamacchia, E.Longoria

2-out RBI- C.Quentin, V.Martinez, A.McCutchen

RLISP 2-out- J.Reyes, D.Lemahieu, J.Werth-2, R.Cano, B.Harper