1.08.2015

WORLD SERIES GAME FOUR: SIMMONS CLUTCH AS FIREBIRDS WALK OFF

Under threatening skies for Yuma, Simmons came through
October 12: Another one-run game and Yuma comeback. This time, the Casselton bullpen blew the lead and game.

The Casselton Horned Toads were just six outs away from a 3-1 lead in their first BARB World Series appearance.

A promising top of the eighth inning had netted just one run, but Adrian Beltre’s sacrifice fly was enough to hand a 2-1 lead to hard-throwing Kelvin Herrera, on for his second full inning of work.

Fortunately for a home crowd without much to celebrate through nearly two home games so far, Andrelton Simmons had other ideas. The light-hitting shortstop stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the eighth and took a called strike and a ball before Herrera hung a curve. Simmons put all of his listed 195 pounds behind the swing, made contact and stopped and stared, as did the crowd. The ball was arcing down toward the foul pole in left. Simmons waved his arms, ala Carlton Fisk, and craned his neck…

HOME RUN!

The solo blast just inside the foul pole at Safeco Field squared the fourth game of the 2014 World Series at 2-2.

An inning later, Simmons strode up with confidence. A man on and a man out, he swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded toward short. As Alex Gonzalez reached down to play it, the ball hit a rock and took a wicked hop to the side and through. Ryan Braun scampered to third and Simmons was safe at first. That was all Danny Valencia needed to end the game, as his fly ball down the left field line was too deep for Khris Davis to have a prayer of throwing out Braun. Series tied.

Both teams had multiple chances to keep the game from going down to the wire. The first two Yuma batters of the game reached base, but their 3-4-5 hitters went down harmlessly afterward.

Casselton came back in the top of the second and opened the scoring. Justin Upton, who was struggling at the plate (.231 in the series through four games) was hit by a pitch before advancing on a groundout and scoring on a Jay Bruce double.

Ryan Zimmerman provided the muscle to tie the game in the fourth, as he pulled a full-count, challenge fastball from Dillon Gee into the left-field bleachers. The Firebirds had a chance for more later the same inning as Buster Posey and Ben Zobrist sandwiched walks around a Simmons single. However, Gee rung up Anthony Rendon with two down to end the inning.

Yuma threatened in both the fifth and the sixth, both times putting multiple runners on base with less than two out. Gee buckled down and handled a Posey grounder flawlessly for the third out of the fifth, and Herrera successfully recorded the last two outs of the sixth with the bases loaded and the middle of the order approaching.

Casselton’s chance in the eighth was their first threat since scoring in the second. Edwin Encarnacion drew a leadoff walk against Jeff Samardzija, who was pulled for David Carpenter after Scooter Gennett followed with a single. The most questionable coaching decision of the series came on the next play, a single by Carlos Gomez. The Horned Toads’ third-base coach saw the ball trickle up the middle and, despite Encarnacion’s plodding, Andrew McCutchen’s strong arm and no outs in the frame, sent the runner. The throw was on the money in plenty of time for the first out. Beltre followed with his RBI, but Upton’s struggles continued as he struck out with an insurance run on third.


FINAL: YUMA 3, CASSELTON 2

No comments: