Andrew Cashner and Anibal Sanchez got the nod in the CL play-in game.
Sanchez retired NMO in order in the first, but then the Mosstroopers pecked away, collecting 7 hits in innings 2-4. Morales in the second and Dirks in the fourth each provided RBI hits, and it could have been a lot worse, with three runners stranded in scoring position in innings 2 and 3, and runners on 2nd and 3rd again with two out in the 4th. At this point, SPR summoned Jason Frasor, who issued a walk and then got out of the jam- three more LOB but NMO led 2-0.
Meanwhile SPR only managed a pair of singles off Cashner through the first four innings. When Brad Miller walked and stole second in the 5th, Randy Choate came on and got two outs to preserve the shutout. But when Choate returned to the mound for the 6th, Aramis Ramirez and David Ortiz provided back-to-back doubles to get SPR on the board. Lindstrom came on to strike out Jose Bautista and then Watson entered to get two groundouts and strand Papi on second. SPR wouldn't get another hit until the 9th.
Cingrani and Masterson kept NMO at bay in the 7th and 8th, and Rivera got into a 1st and 2nd no out jam in the 9th but worked out of it. So we went to the bottom of the 9th, NMO 2, SPR 1.
Jansen struck out Moises Sierra pinch hitting, then struck out Brett Gardner.
Austin Jackson singled to keep the Avengers alive and chase Jansen. When Ardolis Chapman entered to face Brad Miller, the Avengers summoned veteran Mark Derosa with his R4L. On cue, he slammed a dramatic home run!
Wait, wait, did I say a "dramatic home run"? Um, yeah, what I meant was a "dramatic ballpark home run."
You know, one of those deals where strat SHOWS A PICTURE OF THE BALL SAILING MAJESTICALLY OVER THE FENCE, SERIOUSLY, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO QUESTION THAT ACCORDING TO THE PICTURE, THAT BALL WENT OVER THE FENCE, but then right when you are literally jumping out of your chair, the FRIGGIN IRRITATING LITTLE TEXT WINDOW says "1-5 HR 6-20 FO" and then tells you that Michael Saunders actually caught the ball. Can you picture that? Yeah, well, anyway, that's how the game ended.
Cashner was fantastic but only went 4.1 innings so the computer awarded the win to Tony Watson (2.1 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K, and one crucial inherited runner stranded).
You can make a case for either Cashner or Watson as MVP, but if you were to ask my opinion (which nobody did) my pick would probably be Michael Saunders because he had three hits and a run scored in addition to APPARENTLY CATCHING A FLY BALL IN ABOUT THE 8TH ROW OF THE LEFT FIELD BLEACHERS, SERIOUSLY, THAT IS WHERE THE PICTURE SHOWED THE BALL LANDING SO I GUESS HE MUST BE EITHER STRETCH ARMSTRONG OR SPIDER MAN.
Ok, seriously though, congratulations to Warren, he made great managerial moves, employing 6 pitchers for a lights out team pitching performance in the 2-1 win. It really didn't feel as close as it was, what with NMO stranding 12 runners and SPR's one run coming on a rather improbable Papi double off lefty Choate.
