Stroman helped his team and helped himself, but it wasn't enough
October 11: Many observers expected the
host Firebirds to explode when the series shifted to Yuma, but the visiting
pitching staff held off the charge at least one more day.
Coming off an eight-inning, two-run
outing against Frosbite Falls in the Division Series, Bartolo Colon
(derogatorily referred to as “Fatolo” by a previous BARB employer) was sent to
the hill in hostile territory with the mission of giving the Casselton Horned
Toads a one-game lead in the World Series. Though he didn’t stay around long
enough for a decision, the aging and expanding right-hander helped keep the
Yuma Firebirds offense down long enough for his team to earn their victory.
Colon had the backing of the first run
of the game in the second inning. Adrian Gonzalez led off with a harmless
grounder to second, but Anthony Rendon threw the ball away and Gonzalez hustled
to second base before moving up and scoring on successive groundouts.
Yuma rookie Marcus Stroman was on top of
his game as well, matching Colon most innings in his seven-inning stint.
Stroman even helped himself in the fifth with an RBI fielder’s choice just a
few batters after Colon threw away a potential groundout.
Both teams plated runs in the seventh, with
Casselton’s coming on back-to-back doubles by Edwin Encarnacion and Jay Bruce
and Yuma tying the game again on a Buster Posey solo blast.
The game went to the 10th
inning still tied at 2, though the Firebirds had an excellent chance to break
it open in the eighth. Andrew McCutchen led off the inning with a walk and
Casey McGehee singled, but Craig Stammen settled down the struck out Ryan
Zimmerman before inducing a double-play grounder off the bat of Ryan Braun.
Mark Melancon had entered in place of
Stroman and pitched two hitless innings, and he struck out Khris Davis to lead
off the 10th. The next batter was Scooter Gennett, who was hitless
on the day. The second baseman strode to the plate looking for a first-pitch
fastball, and he launched the offering to left-center to bust the tie!
Veteran Yuma wouldn’t go down without a
fight. They had come back in the ninth inning of Game Two, and here in Game
Three, in front of the home fans, they staged another late rally. Mookie Betts
greeted new pitched Tom Milone with a lead-off single, and he took second when
the ball squirted past Bruce. McCutchen flew out, but Danny Valencia drew a
pinch-walk. Zimmerman worked the count full and took a mighty cut, sending the
ball DEEP to straight-away center. Carlos Gomez was chasing…feeling for the
wall…and then stopping short to catch the blast! Betts moved up and put the
potential tying run 90 feet away with Braun at the plate. The former MVP took
two balls before fouling off two pitches. Finally, Milone jammed him and popped
him up. Gonzalez took in the final out, and the Horned Toads had taken a 2-1
lead in the series!
FINAL: CASSELTON 3, YUMA 2
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