Down Under---With an opportunity to reclaim sole possession of the lead in the Eastern Division, the Darwin Finches instead went down in flames not once, but twice to the visiting Worcester Eliminators, who have rather quietly moved up in the race by taking a twinight doubleheader from the Unnatural Selections, on the road in Australia.
In the opener, a wild Chad Billingsley (5-4, 3.75) and the Darwin pen blew a 3-2 lead, as the Elims scored four times in the seventh in part by cashing in a pair of errors by Chipper Jones, with Alex Rios getting the big hit, a two-run single off former starter Zack Greinke. The Finches, however, would make this game interesting for Jesse Litsch (9-5, 3.96), who would nearly let the home team get back in the game with a three-run home seventh. Scott Down came on with the bases loaded, however, to fan David Ortiz and end the threat.
A bright moment for the Finches came in the top of the ninth, and again Rios was involved. Trailing 7-6 and needing a quick 1-2-3 inning, Darwin instead put two on with nobody out. Rios lined a ball at Placido Polanco, who stepped on second to double off Grady Sizemore, then whipped the ball over to Lance Berkman….a TRIPLE play! Wow, but it would end up being just a curiosity, for Matt Guerrier sent the Finches down in the final innings for his third save of the year. Worcester had won the opener, 7-6!
In the nightcap, Finches starter Oliver Perez fared as bad as Billingsley. Perez walked the bases loaded with two out, then gave up an infield hit to Mark Teixeira to plate a run. When Perez did the SAME thing in the second, the Finches had seen enough and again called on Greinke. This time, the call to the former starter was successful, as Greinke fanned Garret Atkins, but the Finches still trailed 1-0 and had to be demoralized by Perez’s disastrous (1 IP, 1 ER, 6 BB) outing.
Darwin managed to tie the game up with a scratch run in the sixth on Ryan Doumit’s triple, but could otherwise muster no offense against Eliminators starter Jeremy Guthrie. In the ninth, with the ancient Tim Wakefield the fourth pitcher of the day for the Finches, Derek Jeter singled, stole second and scored the go-ahead run on Derek Lee’s six-hopper through the middle, and Heath Bell (8-7, 3.34) and Brandon Morrow (save #6) made it stand up, a 2-1 victory.
Worcester (75-54) is now only one-and-a-half games behind Frostbite Falls (77-53) for the wild card spot, and only trail the Finches (78-52) by one game more. Darwin manager PZ Myers achieved a mark of sorts by being ejected in both halves of the twin bill, and observers speculated that the Finches were starting to run out of gas.
In other BARB action:
LEXINGTON 8, LAS VEGAS 5
WP: Juan Cruz (3-3, 6.97)
LP: Aaron Heilman (7-3, 3.07)
SV: Gonzalez (1)
Adrian Gonzalez hit his 21st homer, a three-run show, J.J. Hardy added a bases-loaded double, and another new Gonzalez (reliever Mike) worked two innings to earn the save and keep Lexington (73-59) within striking distance of West-leading Yuma. With the win, the Rebels snapped the Luchadores season-high 11-game winning streak, but Vegas (69-63) still holds a five-and-a-half game lead with 20 games to play in the Central.
YUMA 4, S-MART 3 (12 innings)
WP: Manny Corpas (8-7, 3.52)
LP: Jose Valverde (4-5, 3.15)
Roy Halladay worked ten innings in an attempt to outduel James Shields, but neither would figure in the decision of this extra-inning thriller, won in the 12th by Yuma’s bench. Shane Victorine singled to open the inning off Valverde, and pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt worked a walk. The Firebirds then shocked the Boom Sticks by pulling off a double steal, and Russell Martin hit a bloop for a walkoff win.
Alex Rodriguez hit his BARB-leading 45th HR of the year in the loss for the Boom Sticks, who will be eliminated by any combination of losses or Vegas wins equaling four…in other words, any day now.
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