WORLD SERIES GAME 5

With Yuma’s win in Game 4 guaranteeing the 2017 BARB World Series would at least see a Game 6 in Arizona, both the Firebirds and their Game 5 host, the St. Francis Friars, looked to beleaguered pitching staffs to pull them within one win of a title.

And, amazingly, after the teams had combined to use 26 relievers in back-to-back extra-inning games the previous two days, the finale in St. Francis was a pitcher’s duel.

Chris Devenski, who tossed three innings of nearly-perfect relief for the Kansans in relief of Stephen Strasburg in Game 4, earned the start as Rich Hill, who took the turn after Strasburg’s Game 1 outing, struggled in a late appearance to take the loss in Game 4.

Other than a two-out triple in the third, Devenski didn’t encounter any trouble through four innings. His pitch count, at 65, was a tad high, but not terrible – he hadn’t issued a single free pass. In the top of the fifth, however, it all went downhill in a hurry. Ian Kinsler opened with a single before scoring two pitches later, on a Mike Zunino double to the wall in left-center. The Firebirds sensed a possible breakout inning against Devenski, so Brian Dozier was sent up to pinch-hit for starting pitcher Sean Manaea. Devenski walked him on five pitches and was pulled from the game after throwing 77 on the night.

A double switch brought Kyle Schwarber in to catch as Trevor Cahill took the mound. Three groundouts later, the Kansans were out of the inning. They did trail, 2-0, but the possible outburst was averted and the home team was still in the game.

Gerrit Cole was inserted in place of Manaea for the Firebirds, after the young southpaw finished four scoreless innings against one of the best offenses in the league. Cole, after an injury-riddled regular season, picked up where Manaea left off with goose eggs in the fifth and sixth frames (though the Kansans did threaten with a man on third in the fifth) and remained in the game after Jesse Winker, pinch-hitting for Cahill, blasted a first-pitch moonshot to right in the home half of the seventh.

With his team leading by one, Cole recorded the first out in the eighth on a groundout. He lost J.D. Martinez on a full-count, and with left-handed prodigy Cody Bellinger looming Yuma played the matchup game with Sean Doolittle. The veteran overmatched the young hitter for the second out to bring up Marcell Ozuna, who was 0-for-3 on the night.

An O-fer so far didn’t mean Ozuna wasn’t licking his chops at the first Doolittle offering, a hanging breaking ball. The slugger didn’t miss, launching a soaring drive to left as the home crowd exploded. The Kansans, trailing since the fifth inning, suddenly had the LEAD, 3-2!

As the game moved to the top of the ninth, most in attendance figured the Kansans had the game in the bag. Kenley Jansen, one of the best closers in the league, was called upon to close out the Firebirds and send the St. Francis crowd home happy one last time in 2017.

A couple quick outs pushed Yuma to the brink, but Kinsler took a close pitch for ball four and Ben Zobrist, in a pinch-hit appearance, did the same. Two on, two out for another bat off the bench…ICHIRO! The wily veteran eyed Jansen while pulling up his right sleeve, bat pointed to the sky. First pitch…low. A called strike on the inner half and a splitter slashed foul brought the count to 1-2. Jansen came set and exhaled, then fired a 98-mph fastball toward the outside. Ichiro tried to fight it off, but he put it on the ground in fair territory…right at third baseman Justin Turner. The throw was in time, and the Kansans practiced a subdued celebration. The home slate at The Monastery was over for the year, but St. Francis was just a single win from earning Scott Hatfield his first BARB title!

FINAL: ST. FRANCIS 3, YUMA 2