In the CL Wild Card Game, the Shiner Blondes (95-67) visited the Bali Dawgs (98-64). This was the 1st playoff appearance in franchise history for Bali. In honor of this special occasion, Aaron managed his team live from the Ukraine, thanks to the wonders of modern technology.
Bali started their ace, Jacob Degrom (20-6, 2.91 ERA). Lacking a true ace this season, Shiner went with Jimmy Nelson (12-9, 3.79 ERA).
Shiner put runners in scoring position in the 1st and 2nd, but failed to score. In the bottom of the 2nd, noted speedster Carlos Santana led off with a triple. The next 2 batters struck out, but the often disappointing Byron Buxton delivered an RBI single! He quickly stole 2nd and Bali loaded the bases, threatening to blow the game open early. However, Polanco made a tough play at SS to end the threat. Shiner quickly tied the game as Ramirez drew a leadoff walk, moved to 2nd on a groundout and scored on a single by Bonifacio. The tie lasted until the 4th, when another noted speedster led off with a triple. This time it was Nick Castellanos and he scored on another Buxton single. Byron was caught stealing to help keep the game close. Once again, that inspired a Shiner rally. With 2 outs in the 5th, Bonifacio drew a walk, advanced on an Olson single and scored on a clutch hit by Pina. Degrom retired Polanco to end the rally.
Wong led off the bottom of the 5th and advanced on a bunt. Once again, that 3rd out proved elusive. Hosmer drew a 2-out walk and then Santana delivered another big hit, driving in 2 with a double. Castellanos tripled again and Realmuto doubled to score a couple more runs. Nelson walked Buxton before the Shiner manager finally woke up and got him the heck out of there. The Shiner bullpen dominated after that, but the damage was done. Pitching with a huge 6-2 lead, Degrom put into cruise control, retiring 9 straight before a leadoff walk in the 9th. Bali quickly went to Chad Green, earning the righteous anger of Degrom, who obviously wanted to finish. Green rewarded his manager's trust by throwing a wild pitch, but then struck out the dangerous David Freese. PH Delmonico grounded out and it all came down to Jose Ramirez. He also grounded out and the Bali fans stormed the field to celebrate their first playoff victory!!! BAL 6-2
Santana led the Bali offense with 3 hits, 2 run and 2 RBI. Casteilanos had 2 big triples, Buxton had a couple RBI singles and even Wong had 2 hits from the #9 spot. DeGrom scattered 10 baserunners in 8 IP to earn the win.
Congratulations to Aaron and I'm glad we were able to make the technology work. So I managed to lose both WC games this season. Cool.
Bali's win means that #1 seed Harmony Grove will actually host East Greenwich instead of the WC team while Bali travels to San Francisco. Have fun!
