In a matchup of Grapefruit Division wild cards, the St.
Francis Kansans (89-73) advanced in the playoffs for the third time , sweeping
a pair of games from the Oakland Larks (85-77) to advance in the 2016 BARB
playoffs. Timely power displays and,
more importantly, great relief work allowed the Kansans to overcome a deficit
in Game One and then ride out an early lead in Game Two.
GAME ONE: ST. FRANCIS
at OAKLAND
In the first contest, Kansans ace Max Scherzer (12-12, 4.07
ERA) showed both of the characteristics that defined his regular season: the ability to get strikeouts (his 290 K’s
led all BARB righthanders), and an unfortunate propensity to cough up the long
ball. Scherzer tied Arizona RHP James
Shields in allowing a BARB-leading 48 HR in the regular season, and when Hunter
Pence cranked a solo shot leading off the second inning, it gave his opposite
number a 1-0 lead: LHP Jaime Garcia
(9-9, 3.12 ERA in the regular season) would allow only five baserunners to
reach in seven frames.
Unfortunately for Garcia and the Larks, two of those
baserunners had big blasts connected with them.
RF J.D. Martinez hit a game-tying
solo shot with one down in the top of the fourth, and the mighty mite, Jose
Altuve, added another with two down in the sixth to narrow Oakland’s lead to
3-2 in the sixth. This all came after
the Larks had put together a rally with two out in the fifth: Dee Gordon beat out an infield hit, Gerardo
Parra drew a walk, and after a wild pitch allowed both runners to advance,
Daniel Murphy hit a clutch two-run single to score both baserunners and put
Garcia and the Larks a couple of good relief outings away from winning the
opener:
OAKLAND 3, ST. FRANCIS 2!
It was not to be.
Garcia was lifted after throwing 88 pitches, and Francisco Rodriguez was
brought on to bridge the 8th to putative closer Hector Rondon (26
saves). “K-Rod” did exactly that,
fanning pinch-hitter Brad Miller on four pitches, but Kansans leadoff man
Dexter Fowler hit a solid single to put the tying run on first. Justin Turner popped up harmlessly to shallow
left, but with one down up came Altuve again.
The diminutive Kansans second-sacker, who had only homered 11 times in
the regular season, hit his second bomb of the night, in the second row out in
left field. The Kansans, for the first time
in the game, had abruptly stolen the lead, bringing the stunned crowd to a
murmur.
With that turn of events, the St. Francis brain trust turned
to their deep bullpen, and asked lefty Andrew Miller (8-2, more than 100 K’s in the regular season) to get them a six-out
save. Miller was equal to the task,
fanning right-handed hitters Ian Desmond
and Russ Martin in successive frames, then finishing the game by getting
pinch-hitting rookie Tim Anderson to roll into a double play:
ST. FRANCIS 4, OAKLAND 3!
Sean Doolittle (1-0, 0.00), who had bailed out Scherzer in
the bottom of the seventh, literally made only one pitch (to retire Daniel
Murphy), but under the rules was awared win, while Miller earned the save. Francisco Rodriguez (0-1, 9.00) retired the
last four batters he faced, but that was one big Altuve blast too late to
console him or his teammates. The
series now shifted back to Kansas, where Scott Hatfield’s club would only need
to earn a split to advance.
GAME TWO: OAKLAND at
ST. FRANCIS
The second contest matched enigmatic left-hander Rich Hill (9-3,
2.88) versus young fireballer Jake Odorizzi (12-9, 4.05). Hill’s work in the 2016 regular BARB season
had been exemplary when available, but he had missed most of the summer with
complications due to blisters, and his starts had been tantalizing in a bad
way: Hill allowed few runs and struck
out more than 10 batters per nine innings (good), allowing no HR (really good),
but also seemingly pitching out of at least one bases-loaded jam per start, and
usually more than one, with most hitters running up deep counts against
him. Nerve-wrackingly for St. Francis,
this playoff start featured more of the same, and Hill would depart after four-plus
innings having allowed eight hits, two walks and a hit batter.
And yet, amazingly….NO RUNS.
In the first, the speedy Dee Gordon singled
and Tim Anderson walked to put another rabbit on base. Daniel Murphy singled SHARPLY to right, but
J.D. Martinez threw a one-hop bullet to Yadier Molina, who tagged Gordon out
ahead of the throw for the first out!
Anderson took third and Murphy advanced on the throw, so the threat
remained. Yet (right-handed hitting)
Nolan Arenado, the Larks’ best power bat, struck out on a high fastball. DH Chris Carter, another slugging threat,
worked a 3-2 count and then walked to load the bases for Hunter Pence, who had
homered in the first game. Pence fanned on
Hill’s 25th pitch of the inning, however, leaving them loaded.
Can you say ‘snakebit’?
Oakland put two baserunners on each of the next three innings as
well. But Tim Anderson fouled off three
sliders before fanning to end the second,
Hunter Pence hit into a double play in the third after Chris Carter was
hit by a pitch, and J.D. Martinez threw out ANOTHER runner (C Russell Martin)
attempting to score at home on a Dee Gordon single for the final out of the
fourth.
Meanwhile, as unlucky as Oakland’s lineup was, fortune
smiled on the Kansans, who somehow scored two runs without a hard-hit ball in
the third. Light-hitting SS Danny
Espinosa drew a leadoff walk off a wild Odorizzi to start the frame, and Dexter
Fowler beat out an infield hit to short.
Odorizzi then hit Altuve to load the bases. Justin Turner’s fly to right scored Espinosa,
advancing Fowler…then David Ortiz a deeper fly to the wall in left-center to
plate the Kansans CF. J.D. Martinez then
singled softly to right just over the leaping Murphy, and Oakland GM Jay Parks
had seen enough: control specialist
Marco Estrada, a force in the Larks bullpen this year (135 relief IP), was brought
in to get the final out, and he did:
ST. FRANCIS 2, OAKLAND 0!
For the FIFTH inning a row, however, the Larks put two
baserunners on . . . this time with one out.
Having used up his daily Xanax prescription in the first four innings,
St. Francis went to the bullpen as well, summoning Dave Robertson to finish the
frame, which he did, getting Arenado to fly the wall in left, then fanning
Chris Carter to end the threat.
Estrada worked a scoreless fourth and fifth to keep things
close, but with one down in his third inning of work finally hung a breaking
ball, that RF Jay Bruce (a cunning final-week pickup by the Kansans) deposited
over the wall to expand his club’s lead to three runs. With that gap in play, St. Francis allowed
hard-throwing southpaw Carlos Rodon an opportunity to contribute working the
top of the seventh to left-handed hitting Charlie Blackmon . . . who promptly
tripled into the RF corner, where he scored on a solid single by Dee Gordon:
ST. FRANCIS 3, OAKLAND 1!
Things were getting interesting. Playing mix-and-match with his deep bullpen,
GM Scott Hatfield use Ian Kennedy to face Ian Anderson (K), Sean Doolittle to
work to Dan Murphy (HBP) and Ken Giles to work to Nolan Arenado, a slugger who
. . . .
TOPPED a softly-hit ground ball just past a diving Brad Miller,
into left field, loading the bases, putting the tying run on second for Chris
Carter. Having already used four
pitchers in the frame, the St. Francis brain trust decided to continue to put
their trust in Giles, whose BARB regular-season numbers (2-3, 5.60) inspired no
confidence. But Giles got Carter to take
a slider for ‘strike 3’, and then induced Pence to chase a slider in the
dirt: TWO STRIKEOUTS, and a potential
rally denied, by dominant pitching from an unexpected source.
Oakland brought on Hector Rondon to start the bottom of the
7th, and their erstwhile closer gave them a scoreless frame. Impressed by the way Giles finished the
previous inning, the Kansans let him begin the top of the 8th by fanning Ian
Desmond, but when he walked Russell Martin, lifted him in favor of Andrew
Miller, the hero of Game One. Miller
uncorked a wild pitch against pinch-hitter Ketel Marte, and eventually walked
him. But Dee Gordon swung through a 2-2
cutter for the second out, and Tim Anderson forced Marte at second to end the
inning.
Francisco Rodriguez, the loser of Game One, got a chance to
redeem himself in the bottom of the eighth, but walked J.D. Martinez on five
pitches. Previously-hitless Chris Davis
doubled off the top of the wall in right-center to send Martinez to third, and
when Jay Bruce walked, the bases were loaded with none down. Yadier Molina, batting with a chance to
deliver a ‘kill shot’ to Oakland’s hopes, still stung them with a scoring fly
ball to left. Pinch-hitter Danny
Valencia and Dexter Fowler couldn’t cash in further, however, leading to this
score after eight frames:
ST. FRANCIS 4, OAKLAND 1!
Andrew Miller got to start his fourth inning of the series
in order to pitch to the left-handed hitting Daniel Murphy, who hit a HOT shot,
but right at Altuve. The ball popped out
of his extended mitt, but he stayed with the play and retired Murphy at
first. Kenley Jansen (another late
August ‘get’ for the Kansans) then came on after a September that saw him win
two and save three more games. Jansen
had fanned an incredible 146 batters in the BARB regular season, more than any
other reliever in the league. But the
Larks weren’t having any of THAT. Nolan
Arenado hit an 0-1 pitch sharply, but right at Brad Miller, who had been
brought in for ‘defense’ after Valencia had hit for the (much better-fielding)
Danny Espinosa. But Miller stayed with
the smash, and his throw across the diamond was in time to nip Arenado at
first. Down to their last out, the Larks
called on left-handed power source Brandon Moss off the bench, who swung at the
first pitch, and hit it HARD . . . .
Straight up. To the
infield. To Justin Turner, who SQUEEZED
it for the final out, to complete the sweep and send St. Francis to face the
powerhouse Squirrels lineup:
KANSANS WIN THE SERIES, 2-0!
 |
| Playoff MVP Jose Altuve being bear-hugged by teammate Justin Turner. |
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