CACTUS WILD CARD GAME 3

Paul Goldschmidt kept Brooklyn at bay with his glove while contributing with his bat in a tense rubber match

A squeeze and a smash

After a dominant Game Two victory, the Brooklyn Moabs looked to capitalize on their momentum and capture the Cactus division wild card series with Rick Porcello on the mound.

Opposing him in the rubber match was another former Cy Young award winner, Jake Arrieta of the Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels.

It didn’t take long for the host Moabs to break the ice. In the bottom of the second, after Frostbite left two on in the top half, Jake Lamb crushed the ball over Mike Trout’s head in center field and raced around for a triple. Willson Contreras capitalized with a line drive single to center as Lamb trotted in. Contreras promptly motored to third on a Rougned Odor double. A tapper back to Arrieta was dropped and everyone was safe, from Eddie Rosario to Odor to Contreras crossing the plate for a 2-0 lead with none out. The Flying Squirrels escaped further damage when Odor was thrown out at the plate on a sharp Porcello grounder to Paul Goldschmidt…a foreshadowing of things to come.

Porcello was on his game until a minor slip-up in the top of the fifth. Elvis Andrus beat out an infield single, moved to second on a walk and took third on an Arrieta sacrifice bunt. A Trout groundout scored Andrus and cut the Brooklyn lead in half.

The 2-1 advantage held for Brooklyn until the eighth. Porcello immediately showed signs of tiring, issuing a leadoff walk to Trout and allowing a Gary Sanchez single up the middle. Bryce Harper stepped up and took a mighty hack, but the ball soared high and shallow down the left field line. Moabs shortstop Francisco Lindor hustled and pulled the ball in, preventing any advance for the first out.

Porcello’s final pitch of the game was a hanging curve to Evan Longoria, with the resulting line drive nearly decapitating the righty. Trout was waved around third with Ender Inciarte’s cannon cocking for a throw. Trout approached the plate, but Contreras went to a knee as the toss was just inches short and Trout scored standing to tie the game. The ball, however, skipped off Contreras’ shinguard and toward the on-deck circle – allowing Sanchez to advance to third base.

Finally, Porcello was yanked and Jeurys Familia entered the contest. Familia had pitched in both previous games in the series, and that workload nearly led to a disastrous result. Goldschmidt, who had grounded into a double play in the fourth, drove a pitch to left. Christian Yelich sprinted back as the crowd held their breath, but he stopped short of the fence and camped underneath the fly for the second out. As the fans exhaled, Sanchez tagged and scored for a Frostbite lead.

Frostbite Falls retained their 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, and Brad Boxberger was sent in to close the game and secure a divisional round matchup with St. Francis. It was immediately clear he wasn’t going to make it easy. Boxberger threw nine pitches to the first two hitters, walking both. Contreras smashed a pitch into the ground, and Longoria’s only play on the Baltimore chop was to first. One out, tying run on third and winning run on second.

The play might have given the Gold Glove third sacker too much confidence, as he tried for an out at the plate on an Odor grounder but Delino DeShields, Jr, who was running for Freddie Freeman, slid in ahead of the throw to tie the game. Brooklyn now had the potential winning run on third base, still with just one away. With the infield in, Rosario’s eyes brightened as the third base coach relayed the call: squeeze bunt. Sure enough, the confident Rosario squared and dropped it toward first. Goldschmidt came in on a full sprint, fielding the ball with his glove and flipping it to Sanchez. The tag…IN TIME! Frostbite had snuffed out the Moabs’ daring attempt to take the game.

Roberto Osuna got the call for the home squad as the game entered extra innings, and the top of the Flying Squirrels order was his task. He easily disposed of Trout, but Sanchez turned on a get-it-in fastball and pulled it deep…and FAIR inside the left field foul pole! The visiting Squirrels took the air right out of The Launch Pad by regaining the lead.

After his inauspicious first frame of relief, Boxberger briskly marched out for the bottom of the tenth. This time, he succeeded. Yelich flied out, Inciarte struck out and Lindor followed with the same. The Flying Squirrels had their second one-run victory of the series, and a date with Grapefruit champion St. Francis just days away.

FINAL: FROSTBITE FALLS 4, BROOKLYN 3