2015 NLDS Game Two - North Georgia at Metropolis

North Georgia didn’t put up much of a fight in Game One of its NLDS matchup with Metropolis, but hoped to even the series in Game Two. They sent AJ Burnett (13-9, 5.03 ERA in 29 starts) to the mound. Metropolis countered with righty Corey Kluber and his 21-7 regular season record in 37 starts with a 2.56 ERA.

Jose Abreu's homer put North Georiga on the board.

Yellow Jacket slugger Jose Abreu gave the visitors a quick 1-0 lead with a two-out homer in the top of the first. Abreu continued his brilliant rookie season, during which he hit .299 with 37 homers and 96 RBIs. North Georgia tried to add to their lead the next inning, when they put two runners on with one out. Kluber induced weak grounders from Chris Davis and Ben Zobrist to end the inning and keep the game 1-0 North Georgia.

Metropolis veteran Jose Reyes tied the game in the bottom of the second when he hit a two-out single to score Bryce Harper ahead of Adam Jones’s throw from shallow center field. It was aggressive base running by the Avengers and Harper’s sprint home and dive into the plate brought the home-town crowd to its feet.

Andrew McCutchen's homer broke the tie.

Avenger leadoff hitter and MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen broke the tie when he took a Burnett fastball to deep left-center for a solo homer in the fourth inning.

Burnett found his groove after that shot, setting down ten Avengers in a row before walking Jose Bautista with two outs in the sixth. The Yellow Jackets brought in reliever Carlos Torres, who retired Pablo Sandoval to end the inning. Kluber had matched Burnett during the middle innings and the game stayed 2-1 Metropolis heading to the top of the seventh.

Lucas Duda led off the seventh with a double, chasing Kluber to the showers. Joaquin Benoit came on and retired Evan Gattis and pinch hitters Carlos Ruiz and Torii Hunter to end the inning.

Metropolis extended its lead in the bottom of the seventh when Reyes came through with another clutch two-out single. This time it was the lumbering Steve Pearce who got a good jump and beat a weak throw from Chris Coghlan to push the Avengers' lead to 3-1.

Duda hit his second homer of the series with two outs in the ninth, but it was too little, too late, as Benoit closed out the game. Metropolis won Game Two 3-2 and took a 2-0 lead in the series. It was a pitchers’ game all the way, with the teams combining for just 10 hits between them. Metropolis just did a better job of bunching theirs together, while North Georgia’s only runs came on their solo homers in the first and last innings.

The series moves to North Georgia for Games Three, Four, and (if necessary) Five. The Yellow Jackets will send rookie import Masahiro Tanaka to the hill and the Avengers have Collin McHugh scheduled to take the ball.

BOXSCORE: 2015 North Georgia Yellow Jackets At 2015 Metropolis Aven 10/9/2015

  Yellow Jackets     AB  R  H RBI AVG     Avengers           AB  R  H RBI AVG

  E.Aybar SS          4  0  0  0 .242     A.McCutchen CF      4  1  1  1 .375 

  L.Martin RF         4  0  1  0 .192     R.Cano 2B           4  0  1  0 .222 

  J.Abreu DH          4  1  1  1 .345     J.Bautista 1B       2  0  0  0 .167 

  A.Jones CF          4  0  0  0 .250     P.Sandoval 3B       3  0  0  0 .000 

  C.Coghlan LF        4  0  1  0 .250     S.Pearce DH         3  1  1  0 .286 

  L.Duda 1B           4  1  3  1 .259     B.Harper LF         2  1  0  0 .333 

  E.Gattis C          2  0  0  0 .174     J.Werth RF          2  0  0  0 .400 

C-W.Bloomquist 2B     1  0  0  0 .400     J.Reyes SS          3  0  1  2 .429 

  C.Davis 3B          2  0  0  0 .222     C.Iannetta C        3  0  0  0 .167 

A-C.Ruiz PH,C         1  0  0  0 .000                                         

  B.Zobrist 2B        2  0  0  0 .286                                          

B-T.Hunter PH         1  0  0  0 .292                                         

D-J.Arias 3B          0  0  0  0 .000                                         

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

         Totals      33  2  6  2                 Totals      26  3  4  3

A-Pinch Hit For Davis In 7th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Zobrist In 7th Inning

C-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Gattis In 7th Inning

D-Subbed Defensively (3B) For Hunter In 7th Inning

Yellow Jackets.. 1 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 1  -  2  6  0

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

Yellow Jackets (4-3)     IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

A.Burnett LOSS(1-1)       5 2/3   2   2   2   3   9   1   4.09  A1 C3

C.Torres                  1 1/3   1   1   1   1   1   0   1.00  C4 C9

D.Smyly                   1       1   0   0   0   1   0   3.86  D1

Totals                    8       4   3   3   4  11   1

Avengers (2-0)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

C.Kluber WIN(1-0)         6       5   1   1   0   8   1   1.50  A1 C6

J.Benoit SAVE(1st)        3       1   1   1   0   1   1   1.93  C7

Totals                    9       6   2   2   0   9   2

ATTENDANCE- 45,408 DATE- Friday, October 9th 2015 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average

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

T- 2:40

LEFT ON BASE- Yellow Jackets: 5  Avengers: 3

DOUBLE PLAYS- Yellow Jackets: 1  Avengers: 1

ERRORS- P.Sandoval

DOUBLES- L.Duda(1st), S.Pearce(1st)

HOME RUNS- J.Abreu(3rd), L.Duda(4th), A.McCutchen(1st)

RBIs- J.Abreu(5th), L.Duda(8th), A.McCutchen(1st), J.Reyes-2(4th)

CAUGHT STEALING- J.Reyes

WALKS- J.Bautista-2, B.Harper, J.Werth

HIT BY PITCH- E.Gattis

STRIKE OUTS- E.Aybar, J.Abreu, A.Jones-2, C.Coghlan-3, E.Gattis, C.Davis,

             A.McCutchen-2, R.Cano-3, S.Pearce-2, J.Reyes, C.Iannetta-3

GIDP- J.Abreu, J.Bautista

2-out RBI- J.Abreu, J.Reyes, L.Duda

RLISP 2-out- B.Zobrist-2, T.Hunter, C.Iannetta

TEAM RISP- Yellow Jackets: 0 for 5  Avengers: 1 for 4