Redwood and Santa Fe met up in the FLDS, with each having won their division by a good-but-not-overwhelming margin, with RDW (99-63) 8 games over Sewell, and SFE (117-45) 9 games ahead of Brooklyn. These teams last met up in the 2018 playoffs where Redwood took down the Geckos in the FLCS.
Game One: Merrill Kelly (11-10, 5.24) vs Zack Greinke (16-9, 4.06)
The name of the game was ballpark homers, with Redwood hitting the 1-11 on solo blasts by Yastrzemski, Walker, Castro, and Arcia while Cruz missed two for SFE and McCutchen got one with a man on but it wasn't enough. RDW 4 SFE 2 RDW up 1-0
Game Two: Adam Plutko (10-4, 4.27) vs Max Scherzer (17-3, 2.64)
The Pioneers brutalized Scherzer, gathering 9 hits 2 walks and 4 runs over his 5.2 innings pitched. SFE kept it close against Plutko and a parade of relivers, but RDW had a 5-4 lead going into the bottom of the 8th. But then Ramos (always inexplicably great against RDW) and PH Goins got on base and Bogaerts crushed a fastball by closer Taylor Rodgers to take a 7-5 lead that held up. SFE 7 RDW 5 Series Tied
Game Three: Marcus Stroman (12-8, 3.60) vs Trevor Richards (9-5, 4.25)
A rare Arcia error was followed by a Sandoval homer to give SFE an early 2-0 lead, but Stroman couldn't keep the Pioneers off the bases and was pulled in the third inning with men on. Reliever Oberg promptly wild pitched in a run and allowed another to score and RDW had a lead that they wound not surrender as 5 relievers combined for 5 shutout innings and the third game in a row with a 2-run margin. RDW 4 SFE 2 RDW 2-1
Game Four: Greinke vs Chase Anderson (14-7, 4.24)
SFE's righty bats enjoyed Anderson's R/9L split but the real story was Greinke shutting down RDW, as he threw 8 scoreless innings with the few RDW threats rarely advancing to scoring position. SFE 4 RDW 0 Series Tied
Game Five: Scherzer vs Austin Voth (2-1, 2.98)
Bogaerts homered in the first inning but Walker quieted the hometown fans with a 2-out 3-run bomb to straight center. The Geckos once again struggled against the RDW pen, with Gerardo Reyes tossing 3.1 scoreless IP and everyone from Josh Tomlin to Pomeranz keeping the streak alive. RDW 6 SFE 3 RDW 3-2
Game Six: Kelly vs Rich Hill (4-0, 2.84)
With Stroman being ineffective in his prior start, the Geckos went with Hill....and it paid off, as he delivered 5 innings with the only damage being an Austin Slater solo homer. Meanwhile, the SFE bats woke up against Kelly, led by homers by Bogaerts and Betts. SFE 6 RDW 1 Series Tied
Game Seven: Richards vs Greinke
Rick had been saying all series that he was just waiting for SFE to explode for 15 runs. Well, if it's going to happen (almost, anyway), Game 7 is the right time for it. All 6 pitchers used by the Pioneers allowed runs after being almost untouchable previously in the series. SFE 12 RDW 1 SFE wins
Congrats to Rick on putting together a great team and for a very fun series that was extremely close until the last game.
MVP is Xander Bogaerts, who hit .406 with 4 HR and 3 DB, 11 Runs and 9 RBI. Runner up was RDW's Reyes, who collected all three of the Pioneers' wins in 14 IP, with 20 Ks, 1 1.93 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP.
Gratz Tom on the series win and advancing to the FLCS. Your offense slumbered through the first part of the series and it was just a matter of time before they woke up. Bogaerts was unreal, and in the end, there was just too much Greinke. Good luck in the next round.
