DIVISIONAL ROUND: BROWNSVILLE VS YUMA GAME 2

Mookie Betts hit a big two-run homer as Yuma tried to tie the series

After surviving to take Game 1 on the road, the Brownsville Cutters entered the second game at Yuma smelling blood – a second win on the road in the best-of-five series would all-but guarantee the Grapefruit wild card advanced to the BARB World Series.

True to the story, Kyle and Kory Brown’s troops struck first. In the top of the 2^nd, Manny Machado lined the first Carlos Carrasco offering of the frame into the gap in left-center, and he cruised into second base with a double. Two pitches later he crossed the plate, driven in by a Mark Reynolds single.

The Brownsville power show from Game 1 continued in the third, as Scooter Gennett launched a solo blast to right-center for a 2-0 advantage.

Corey Kluber, unavailable for Game 1 after kicking off the wild card round, took the ball on full rest in Game 2 and dominated through four innings, allowing just a single and a runner on an error. But in the fifth the Firebirds struck and tied the game in the span of four pitches. Anthony Rendon doubled and scored on a Brett Gardner single, and Brandon Crawford’s double drove in Gardner. A potential big inning was short-circuited, however, when Crawford attempted to take third on the throw home but was cut down by 10 feet. Two of the next three hitters singled, but they were both stranded when Joey Votto struck out looking.

Kluber’s day ended just the next inning, when he bookended a pair of outs with singles to put runners on the corners. Brownsville called upon lefty Felipe Rivero, who induced an inning-ending lineout from Brandon Crawford to keep the game tied, 2-2.

In the top of the 7^th, Carrasco faltered. Jay Bruce led off and took a mighty cut at the 3-1 pitch, the ball soaring over the right field fence for a 3-2 Cutters lead. With one out, Jose Abreu lined a single to left and Sean Doolittle appeared from the Firebirds bullpen. Yuma’s top lefty matched his counterpart Rivero, getting out of the inning without any additional runs scoring.

Rivero set down the hosts in order in the bottom of the seventh, putting the game right back in the hands of his offense. A single and intentional walk put two on with two out, but Bryan Shaw entered his second game in a row and retired pinch-hitter Michael Taylor to keep Yuma’s deficit at one.

Votto led off the home half of the 8^th and immediately grounded to short, but Corey Seager pulled a hanging 0-2 curve into the gap in right-center. With two right-handed batters due up next, young Carl Edwards was brought in for the visitors. Mookie Betts, working on a 0-for-3 day after a 2-for-6 Game 1, fell behind at a ball and two strikes. The next Edwards pitch was decent, but the dangerous Betts dug it out and drove the ball toward the fence in left. Taylor rushed toward the fence and leaped, but the ball skimmed off his glove and into the bleachers for a 4-3 Yuma lead.

Stunned, Brownsville couldn’t muster even a runner against Shaw in the ninth, and the series fell into a 1-1 tie headed to the Cutters’ Cockerton Field for the next two contests.

FINAL: YUMA 4, BROWNSVILLE 3