GRAPEFRUIT WILD CARD GAME 1

Aaron Judge reached base five times and scored three runs for Brownsville

A back-and-forth series opener sees five combined runs in the third…and SIX total runs in the ninth. Who would gain the upper hand between Brownsville and Worcester?

Worcester, with the third-best finish in the Grapefruit division, played host in this first game of the best-of-three. The visiting Brownsville Cutters, fresh off the best regular season in team history, would host the second and (if necessary) third games of the Wild Card set.

The Eliminators, after suffering numerous pitching injuries during the season (including a season-ending ailment inflicting presumptive ace Aaron Sanchez), sent Junior Guerra to the hill to get things started. The righty worked down in the zone in the top of the first, inducing a pair of groundouts before Aaron Judge singled to center. A Mark Reynolds fly out ended the frame.

Leading off the bottom of the first against Corey Kluber, Trea Turner worked the count in his favor before finding the outer regions of the right-center field gap for a triple. The home crowd then went wild as he scored the first run of the game on a George Springer groundout.

It wasn’t long before Brownsville evened the score. With two out and the bases empty in the second, Jedd Gyorko homered to left-center.

The Cutters were back at it in the top of the third, as Brian McCann singled to left and A.J. Pollock, Scooter Gennett and Judge drew consecutive free passes to force in a run. A Reynolds sacrifice fly represented the first out in the frame and gave the visitors a two-run lead, but Guerra battled and induced a Manny Machado double play to escape further damage.

Kluber exhibited signs of struggle in the home half of the third, allowing two stinging singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. Turner tapped slowly toward third and was thrown out, but a run scored and Yangervis Solarte advanced to second. Springs walked, and Edwin Encarnacion beat out a roller on the infield to load the bases. Veteran Robinson Cano cashed in with a single to left-center to plate two and put the Elims back on top.

The score remained 4-3 into the fifth, when three singles, a bases-loaded walk and sacrifice fly gave Brownsville another lead.

From there, the Cutters focused on holding Worcester’s offense and trying to scratch out insurance runs. Two runners were stranded in both the sixth and seventh, and a seeing-eye single in the top of the seventh scored Judge, who had singled and stolen second.

Cam Bedrosian, who had replaced Kluber in the sixth, gave up a leadoff double to Kyle Seager in the eighth but settled down to retire the next two hitters with the runner advancing one base. Turner made it a one-run game by using his blazing speed to beat out a slow roller, and Bedrosian was knocked out by a Springer humpback liner. In an odd decision, Bruce Bochy called upon Fernando Salas…but it worked. An Encarnacion grounder stranded the potential tying run on second base.

Clinging to a one-run advantage in the top of the ninth, Brownsville’s offense broke through to create a comfortable cushion. Judge and Reynolds both singled to start the frame, and Enny Romero’s 1-2 offering caught too much of the plate to Manny Machado. The third baseman went oppo, shooting a blast over the right-center field fence to open the Cutter lead to four.

Worcester wasn’t out of it yet. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Nelson Cruz lined a single to right. Domingo Santana lined sharply to second for the second out – a ball that could have made things more interesting had it sailed through. Seager then pulled his first pitch from Salas deep down the right field line. If it stayed fair, it would cut the deficit in half. Indeed, it curled around the foul pole. Next was Carlos Santana, and HE got a hold of one to right field. All of a sudden, Salas had allowed three runs with two outs for a one-run game. Bochy left Salas in the game, and he was rewarded by a first-pitch routine grounder to third by Solarte.

FINAL: BROWNSVILLE 9, WORCESTER 8

An exhale filled the visitors’ dugout. The Cutters were just one win away from moving on to face the Yuma Firebirds, and they had two chances in their home ballpark to pull it off.