In the opener, St. Francis entered the bottom of the seventh trailing 2-1 with Bronson Arroyo on the hill, but Breslow walked pinch-hitting C Jonathan LeCroy and "A-Gone" hit Breslow’s next pitch out of the park, a grand slam. The ‘lefty specialist’ had failed to retire a key lefty, and with a five-run lead at that point, all that was needed for Worcester’s dominant pen (arguably the best in the league) to do what they do best: strike out hitters. The final score, 8-2, did not show how close the game had been until Gonzalez’s fateful blast, but in the end, the only number that mattered was Worcester’s 1-0 lead in the series.
With that bitter pill still in their mouths, St. Francis countered with erratic lefty Derek Holland, whose 10-10 mark in the regular season and mediocre ERA reflected the former Brooklyn prospect’s inconsistency. Holland allowed a game-tying single to (the lefty-swinging) Brandon Moss in the bottom of the second, but then matched Worcester starter Matt Scherzer frame for frame into the sixth. With the score tied 1-1, previously-hitless OF Shin Soo-Choo stroked a ball over Moss’s glove in right for a leadoff triple. In a weird play, Worcester C LeCroy was called for a rare ‘catcher’s interference’ on a half-swing by Aaron Hill, putting runners at the corners. Scherzer, muscling up, fanned Friars slugger Chris Davis for the first out, and got ahead of veteran Carlos Beltran, but the 36-year-old fought off a good 0-1 slider and dumped it the other way into shallow left. Choo scored ahead of Martin Prado’s off-line throw, and Holland and the Friars had a 2-1 lead. Going into the bottom of the sixth. Sound familiar?
Holland, as he has been prone to do all year, suddenly lost his command and needed bullpen help in the sixth, and Rafael Soriano (0-1) came in and got the last out on just one pitch. With that sort of economy, it was a lead-pipe cinch that ‘Sori’ would be asked to work the next frame, with the Friars nine outs away from tieing the series. But Damian Moss walked, and advanced into scoring position on a slowly-hit ground ball to third that Alvarez had to wait for. Jared Saltalamacchia, pinch-hitting for Prado, then hit a rifle shot that Alvarez couldn’t handle....putting runners at the corners with just one out, and the dangerous (and left-handed hitting) Robinson Cano at the plate.
Once again, playing ‘by the book’, the Friars summoned their situational lefty. Once again, Breslow pitched to a left-handed hitter. And, once again, a Worcester slugger CRUSHED Breslow’s offering, as Cano rifled a bullet to dead center field, the deepest part of the park, but no matter, this ball was just as gone as Gonzalez’s shot from Game 1!
WORCESTER 4, ST. FRANCIS 2!
As in the first game, the Eliminators would tack on more insurance runs against the Friars bullpen, which looked completely ineffective, disguising how competitive the game had been. As in the first game, the Friars went down on bullet after bullet, with Ernesto Frieri striking out the last three hitters in succession as rain slowly drizzled the rowdy Worcester fans. Pedro Alvarez, who committed two errors in the contest, was nearly run from the game in the top of the ninth after he fanned for the first out and the disgusted Friars stormed into their locker room. The final score:
WORCESTER 6, ST. FRANCIS 2!
Having scored thirteen runs in the first two games and not even have to call upon their best bullet (All-World closer Craig Kimbrel), the Eliminators could be excused for confidence, but Kimbrel (the first man out of the bullpen to congratulate Frieri) was not so sure. "It’s a short series. We have to win one more, but the next two games will be at their place, so I’m not taking anything for granted." As for St. Francis? Veteran Carlos Beltran was matter-of-fact. "Things went their way, in their park. Things didn’t go our way, but we have a day off to think about what we’re going to approach this. I guarantee you this: you’re never as bad as you look when things aren’t going your way. We’ve had lots of three-game winning streaks in the second half this summer, so it’s not something we don’t have the ability to pull off. We just to have to do it against a very tough club."
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