CREEPERS AND FINCHES SPLIT DOUBLE DIP

CREEPERS AND FINCHES SPLIT DOUBLE DIP

Darwin—With both clubs locked in tight pennant races, the Central and Eastern division leaders hooked up in a doubleheader down in Australia whose net effect was to see both clubs lose ground against their hard-charging rivals. With less than three weeks of game play remaining, the Creepers and Finches battled to maintain their tenuous hold on a playoff spot!

In the opener, Mark Buerhrle (13-4, 3.52) drew the unenviable task of matching zeroes with Darwin’s ace, Zack Greinke. And he was equal to the task! The Finches bunched three singles in the bottom of the first, getting a run home on Aaron Rowand’s ground ball up the middle....but that was it for the Darwin offense. Buehrle would load the bases in the fourth, but Brandon Inge (playing LF for the offense-challenged Finches) hit into a double play. The closest the Finches got to scoring again was a leadoff double by Rowand in the eighth.

The Creepers, meanwhile, chipped away at Grienke. Rick Ankiel tied the game in the fourth with a leadoff HR on a 2-1 pitch, his 28th of the year, and then in the fifth with two down Ankiel added an RBI single to give Pottsylvania the lead. Greinke (16-5, 3.02) would end up going all the way and allow just two more hits, but he would take the loss, as Brian Fuentes slammed the door in the ninth for Buehrle for his 16th save!

In the nightcap, Josh Johnson (13-6, 3.14) would take the ball against Yovani Gallardo (11-8, 4.03), hoping to earn a split . . . but neither starter would figure in the decision. Aubrey Huff’s 26th boundary belt of the season gave the Creepers a 4-2 lead over Johnson in the middle innings, but Inge hit a solo shot leading off the sixth and Jeff Francouer followed with an RBI double to chase Gallardo. Rowand then punched a two-run double off Jonathan Broxton to give Darwin the lead.

But the Finches pen couldn’t hold it! Kelly Shoppach nearly blew it with one down, bunting into a potential double play off Kevin Gregg with two runners aboard. Huff was gunned down at the plate, but the relay to first to nail Shoppach was dropped by Aki Iwamura covering. Matt Kemp then singled sharply off Gregg to tie the game . . and, eventually, force extra innings. Gregg was superb for the next two frames, but eventually departed for new Finches closer Fernando Rodney, who would pitch into the 13th. Again, Ankiel was Darwin’s demon, hitting an RBI single to give the Creepers a 6-5 lead in the 11th. But, Fuentes, working the second game of the double dip, put two runners on for Aaron Rowand, who delivered a game-tying RBI single. Rodney would retire the next six hitters he faced, setting up the bottom of the 13th, where Ryan Freel (who had come in as part of a double switch in the eighth) hit a walkoff single off Carlos Marmol to make a loser out of Rafael Betancout (0-2, 3.38), who had walked Adam LaRoche to start the inning. Darwin had won, 7-6 . . .but they had to be troubled that they could only mount eight runs of offense in 22 innings.

The net result of the split was that Pottsylvania and Darwin both lost a half-game to their respective rivals (Casselton and Yuma). With just a couple of weeks to play, nine teams remain in the running for some kind of playoff spot, an ever-tightening spiral of excitement . . .!

In other BARB action:

YUMA 8, TEXAS 2

WP: Roy Halladay (14-6, 2.57)
LP: Colin Balester (5-6, 6.11)

Brian Roberts and Joey Votto each had three hits, and Roy Halladay took a shutout into the ninth before needing a little bullpen help, as the Firebirds (72-55) picked up a half-game in the standings on the stagnating Finches. Rookie Travis Snider had three hits in a losing cause for the visiting Tornadoes and is now hitting .305.

MADTOWN 10, ST. FRANCIS 7

WP: David Aardsma (2-5, 8.13)
LP: Yusmeiro Petit (4-2, 2.56)

Hot-hitting Prince Fielder homered for the third straight game against the gassed Friars, his 31st of the year, one of four bombs dropped by the Murlocs on visiting St. Francis in their final series of the 2009 campaign, helping to overcome pummeling of chronic underachiever Zach Duke, who yielded six runs in the first two innings.

BROOKLYN 4, FROSTBITE FALLS 3

WP: Ubaldo Jiminez (5-3, 4.44)
LP: Tim Lincecum (12-9, 2.83)
SV: Rodriguez (29)

Troy Tulowitzki hit a three-run bomb in the first off Tim Lincecum, and Chase Utley added a solo shot, his 29th of the year, to help make the Moabs lead stand up as host Brooklyn (75-61) edged the visiting Squirrels to open the final three-game meeting of the season between these two Eastern Division rivals. In the process, the Moabs pulled into a tie for second place in the East, just four games behind their sibling rival in Worcester.

FRESNO 12, WORCESTER 3

WP: Danny Haren (14-6, 3.66)
LP: Philip Hughes (1-1, 5.21)

Danny Haren took a shutout into the eighth before needing some help, Carlos Lee had four hits and Adrian Gonzalez made his 27th boundary belt of the season a GRAND SLAM off rookie Philip Hughes as part of an eight-run third given up by the Eliminators staff, sending Worcester (70-57) to a loss in the opening game of their final series of the year with Fresno.

CREEPERS AND FINCHES SPLIT DOUBLE DIP