FRIARS RALLY TO TIE SERIES

For the second straight game, the St. Francis Friars were able to stave off a Worcester "elimination" by rallying against Matt Caskey’s vaunted bullpen, setting the stage for an epic Game 5 in the BARB playoffs.

Rookie Shelby Miller was matched up in this game versus an established ace, former Brooklyn and Yuma stalwart Matt Cain, a veteran of many BARB playoffs. But it became clear that neither the experienced Cain or the fresh-faced Miller had a ‘good thing going on’ in Game Four: Miller walked five batters, including three to load the bases in the fifth, where a ground ball off the bat of Robinson Cano allowed the tying run to score. Cain departed even quicker, knocked out in the third after Carlos Beltran delivered the seventh hit of the game against the right-hander. Cain was fortunate to escape with as little damage as he did, as Ernesto Frieri retired the next five hitters in a row. After five innings, the score was knotted:

ST. FRANCIS 3, WORCESTER 3!

Bronson Arroyo worked a scoreless top of the sixth to keep the game tied, while Greg Holland benefitted from a brilliant throw by Brandon Moss to nail Aaron Hill at third to snuff a Friars threat. But, in the bottom of the sixth, Pedro Alvarez led off the frame with his second double of the game, just beyond Moss’s diving attempt in right. The barrel-chested Alvarez played that one safe, but then took third on a soft single off the bat of Salvador Perez! St. Francis now had two runners on with nobody out, and Worcester was in desperate need of some outs.

Holland came so close. He popped up Ryan Sweeney on the first pitch, then got a soft ground ball from J.J. Hardy. Worcester 3B Chase Headley charged. Alvarez, hugging third, ran right behind Headley on the ball hit in his neighborhood, while Salvador Perez (running on the play) was not an option, so Headley barehanded the ball.....and (in a bang-bang play!) Hardy beat out his peg to first. Alvarez scored to give St. Francis the lead, and there were still two on with one down, and a pair of left-handed hitters coming up (Ichiro Suzuki and Shin-Soo Choo).

With only one lefty in the pen, and still only the sixth inning, the Eliminators made their move, calling on hard-throwing southpaw Jacob McGee. McGee got Suzuki to (of course) roll over and hit a slow grounder to second, a productive out that moved both runners up a base. McGee then had to pitch to Choo, whose struggles with lefties have become pronounced in recent years. This time, however, Choo beat the percentages, singling sharply over short. Perez trotted home, and Hardy scored as well when Martin Prado’s throw was off-line:

ST. FRANCIS 6, WORCESTER 3!

McGee fanned Aaron Hill for the final out of the sixth, but the damage had been done. As in the third game, it was the Friars who were able to use their bullpen to shorten the game. Billy Butler hit a solo shot over the CF wall with two down in the seventh off Bronson Arroyo, and in the next inning Headley led off the frame with a walk to put the tying run. Veteran lefty reliever Scott Downs was summoned to pitch to the left-handed hitting Brandon Moss. Worcester, playing the percentages, called on right-handed hitting Jonathan LeCroy to pinch-hit for Moss, but Downs frustrated the Eliminators by getting a tailor-made double play on just two pitches. Fernando Rodney then relieved Downs and struck out Hanley Ramirez on a 3-2 pitch.

In the ninth, things were even simpler, with Koji Uehara relieving Rodney with a runner on. 3-2 pitch to Martin Prado? Called third strike—OUT! 1-2 pitch to pinch-hitter Juan Francisco? Swing and a miss—OUT! 1-2 pitch to the lefty-swinging Adrian Gonzalez? Foul tip, held on, strike three–OUT! Uehara punched his mitt, the Friars mobbed the infield, thrilled to have come back and tie the series and setup a pivotal (and final) fifth game:

ST. FRANCIS 6, WORCESTER 4! 

All indications were that St. Francis, which had been juggling things for two games, would not come back with either of the previous game’s starters, and with R.A. Dickey and Bronson Arroyo having both pitched in long relief the last two games, they would turn to a seemingly-unlikely hurler: little-used LHP Travis Wood. Would this move put the Friars over, or would the high-flying Worcester offense reassert itself to put St. Francis away? Stay tuned!