GAME ONE
Brownsville, after some internal debate, decided to use free-agent pickup Edinson Volquez (12-11, 3.47 in the regular season) to start the first game, on the road in Kansas. The Kansans, meanwhile, countered with their oft-coddled ace, prima donna starter Matt Harvey (16-5, 2.43). Harvey had clearly been St. Francis's best starter in the regular season, hurling five shutouts, but St. Francis management had been very cautious with their big righthander: Harvey had been skipped in the rotation numerous times, and worked only once in the season's final 15 games in order to keep his innings down in his first full BARB season, some 14 months removed from Tommy John surgery.
As it turns out, Harvey was good but not great after the long layoff, and the "effectively-wild" Volquez got an early lead thanks to Harvey's former teammate: versatile veteran Michael Cuddyer, who hit .278 in 53 games for Brownsville after coming from St. Francis in a mid-season trade. With the score knotted at 1-1 in the fourth, Harvey allowed a two-out single to Kole Calhoun. Cuddyer then slashed a 2-1 pitch to the gap in left-center. Calhoun, running on the play, scored from first to give the Cutters the lead lead when the ball clanked off the glove of Kyle Schwarber. Gerardo Parra, playing CF, threw out Cuddyer attempting to take third:
BROWNSVILLE 2, ST. FRANCIS 1!
The Kansans kept things close by scoring a run in the bottom of the frame off Volquez, but it ended up feeling like a squandered opportunity. Adam Lind and Kyle Schwarber both singled on fastballs to put runners at the corners with nobody out, and when Volquez drilled J.D. Martinez on a 1-2 pitch to load the bases, it looked as if the Kansans would have one of their typical 'big innings.'
But David Ortiz hit the second pitch he saw on the ground to Cutters SS Jed Lowrie, and he and A-Rod (playing 2B!) were able to get a double play on the big man. Lind scored from third on the play to narrow the gap, but with two down Danny Valencia smoked a line drive right at Lowrie to end the inning:
BROWNSVILLE 3, ST. FRANCIS 2!
At this point, the Kansans felt they were getting back in the game, and they played their first trump card, bringing Adam Wainwright into the game in relief. Wainwright, who missed most of the season with an Achilles injury, had been added to the club's roster in mid-season after being abandoned by other BARB organizations when it became clear to St. Francis owner Scott Hatfield that the veteran starter might actually be able to pitch in the post-season. Rolling a pair of $9 million dice, St. Francis had added Wainwright as the league's most expensive sidelined pitcher.
Wainwright pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, and that allowed the Kansans to play their second trump card: with one down in the eighth, Chris Davis was summoned to pinch-hit for Adam Lind with his club down a run. One of the league's top run producers in 2013 and 2014, Davis had seen his playing time curtailed as his production stalled in 2015, but to the consternation of Brownsville management, hit a 2-2 pitch over the wall in CF, a moon shot, to tie the score:
BROWNVILLE 3, ST. FRANCIS 3!
Things were getting interesting. Volquez had departed in favor of reliever Hunter Strickland, and after two scoreless frames the St. Francis brain trust made a fateful decision, bringing in LHP Sean Doolittle. Doolittle had assumed the club's closing role down the stretch after a deadline day deal with the Yuma Firebirds...and he had been excellent! The southpaw made seven appearances for the Kansans, winning two games and saving four. With the thought that the Cutters pen was vulnerable with several relievers still fatigued from the end of the season, St. Francis elected to use Doolittle, expecting to score in the bottom of the ninth after a scoreless frame.
Doolittle? Well, he did VERY little that was good and much that was bad. He hung a pitch to Calhoun leading off the inning that Calhoun roped into left, doubling over the glove of Kyle Schwarber. With Cuddyer at the plate, Doolittle fell behind and management elected to give their former teammate (with two steaks already) a free pass with a base open. But Doolittle, who had walked only three batters the entire BARB season (!), went 3-1 on George Springer, then loaded the bases with none out. A groundout by Evan Gattis just missed being turned into a double play, run scoring. But when pinch-hitter Juan Uribe lined out to CF, it looked as if Doolittle would be able to keep things a one-run affair....until A.J. Pollock DOUBLED under the glove of Chris Davis to score two runs:
Pat Neshek relieved Doolittle and got out of the inning, but the damage was done. To make matters worse, the Kansans did in fact score runs in the bottom of the 9th, as their original strategy predicated, yet they fell just short. Justin Turner homered off veteran Jeremy Affeldt with Didi Gregorius aboard to make it a one-run game with two down, but (with no right-handed hitters left on the bench) Chris Davis fanned on a 2-2 pitch to end the game:
BROWNSVILLE 6, ST. FRANCIS 5!
Strickland (1-0, 13.50) would get the win despite a mediocre effort, Affeldt the save and Doolittle (0-1, 40.50) the painful loss. Down 1-0 in the playoffs, St. Francis would now have to travel to Brownsville, and face the club's real ace: Jose Fernandez (7-1, 2.07 in the regular season). The Cutters had elected to hold the big Cuban in reserve to give him an extra day's rest, and these events definitely shifted things in the home team's favor!
GAME TWO
The visitors would counter with another touted young pitcher, RHP Michael Wacha. St. Francis had drafted Wacha back in 2013, but had dealt him to Worcester prior to the 2014 draft before reacquiring him in a mid-season trade this year. Overall, Wacha (14-9, 2.89) had performed well for both clubs...but in the playoffs, he clearly didn't "have it" and the Kansans fell behind early.
In this game, the 40-year-old Alex Rodriguez was the culprit that would drive the Kansans crazy. Somehow enlisted for much of the year as a 'second baseman', A-Rod would make a pair of key defensive stops to keep runs from scoring. But his biggest work came with the bat. After Fernandez overcame a two-out triple by J.D. Martinez, A-Rod led off the bottom of the Cutters 2nd with a double between Schwarber and Parra. The veteran would be erased on a force play at home with one down two batters later, bringing up. . . Jose Fernandez.
Unlike the first game, played with the DH in St. Francis, the second game in Brownsville would let the pitcher hit. And Fernandez made contact, hitting a ground ball to Danny Valencia....that went through his legs. George Springer scored, an unearned run, but one that gave Fernandez the lead:
BROWNSVILLE 1, ST. FRANCIS 0!
This might've been all that the Cutters ace would need. In all, he would pitch into the eighth and fan eight batters in the process, a dominant outing. But he had to breathe easier in the fifth, where A.J. Pollock led off with a double. After Machado fanned, the Kansans chose not to pitch to Abreu, who led all BARB hitters in the regular season with 46 HR and 134 RBI, just missing a Triple Crown to Altuve. St. Francis walked Abreu intentionally with a base open and one down. Can you blame them?
Yet, the closest any other BARB player has come to a Triple Crown winner in thirteen seasons was...Alex Rodriguez. At the ripe old age of 28, he hit 53 HR and drove in 118 RBI back in 2004, when he was an MVP for Brooklyn's world championship club that year. And it was 'A-Rod' who got to bat with two on after Abreu's intentional walk. And it was 'A-Rod' who LAUNCHED Wacha's 1-2 fastball at the letters, up, UP and OUT: a three-run home run, and a commanding lead after five frames:
BROWNSVILLE 4, ST. FRANCIS 0!
Wacha stalked the mound, but it was pretty clear that he was done after 94 pitches. He was followed by Adam Wainwright, who for the second straight game twirled a pair of scoreless frames, this time after entering on a double switch. And it was in the eighth that Wainwright had to depart, in what was clearly the Kansans' best chance to get back in the game.
Gerardo Parra and Jhonny Peralta (who had also come in the double switch) singled off Fernandez to open the frame in the eighth, and the Cutters pen began to work. Justin Turner struck out for the first out, but David Ortiz came off the bench to bat for Wainwright. He had not started with the DH not in play in Brownsville. A lefty with pop, who doesn't strike out much, Ortiz never got to face Fernandez, who departed to cheers. Instead, he would have to do work against reliever Trevor Rosenthal, and (since the tying run was in the on-deck circle) this was a save situation.
Ortiz had missed his pitch in the first game in a big opportunity, and this was his chance to 'redeem' himself. Again, Ortiz was aggressive and swung on the 0-1 pitch. And, AGAIN, he hit it on the ground. And, AGAIN, to a Brownsville infielder....Alex Rodriguez, who dived, came up with it, and had plenty of time to start the FOUR...SIX....THREE.....DOUBLE PLAY! Rosenthal had come through in the clutch, and the Cutters would only need three more outs to win this playoff series.
Ken Giles and Sean Doolittle quietly completed the bottom of the eighth, and in the ninth it was the heart of their team's order. But J.D. Martinez fanned. Kyle Schwarber grounded harmlessly to Lowrie. Chris Davis, who had two hits in the game already against Jose Fernandez, worked a 3-2 count and walked. But before Brownsville could even think about a possible bullpen move, pinch-hitter Adam Lind sprayed a get-ahead fastball between first and second, AND.....
A-ROD! Dives, spears the hard one-hopper, and from his knees....a STRIKE to Abreu at first, the third and final out!
BROWNSVILLE WINS THEIR PLAYOFF, 2-0, and ADVANCES!
WHAT NOW?
Brownsville will slot their pitching so that Corey Kluber (14-9, 3.33 in the regular season) works twice against Yuma, and take their best shot at gaining a berth in the 2015 BARB World Series. Fernandez (1-0, 0.00) will probably only work once, but with the rest of their pen more rested, the Cutters are in an ideal position with an off-day.
St. Francis will now pay the price for the trades that netted them Wacha, Doolittle and Valencia, none of which did much to justify their acquisition in the post-season. Wacha (0-1, 5.40) will take the loss in the second game and hope that a full year with his team will turn out better in 2016, but there are clearly no guarantees of that. "A big whiff," said Scott Hatfield, "and a disappointing finish to a season that saw us make the playoffs for the fourth time in five years."
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