Terre Haute and San Francisco hooked up today in their CL Division Series matchup. which is the first postseason series between the two teams.
Game 1
The Explosion struck first with Dom Smith's solo homer off Rju in the top of the 3rd, and extended that lead to 3-0 in the 5th when Verdugo took Ryu deep for a two-run shot. SF appeared on the scoreboard in the bottom of the 5th with Kyle Tucker's solo homer off Fried to cut the lead to 3-1. That score held into the bottom of the 7th when a Tucker groundout scored Grandal and SF trailed by one. But TER would answer right back as the Seawolves bullpen was ineffective. Lindblom gave up a leadoff single to Ahmed, Shreve then walked Newman with two outs, and then Sims gave up a two-run double to Brantley, and TER now led 5-2. But...the Explosion bullpen was no better as Almonte led off the bottom of the 8th by allowing a Phillips triple and a Vogelbach walk. Cronenworth then doubled off Baez to score Phillips and Story brought in Vogelbach with a sac fly, and the TER lead was back to a single run at 5-4 heading into the 9th. TER went scoreless in the top half and handed the ball to Andrew Miller to close out the one-run lead. Miller responded by striking out the first two batters of the inning, but then gave up a single to PHer Tyrone Taylor. SF then sent up PHer Mitch Garver, who rolled a 1-11 for a BP homer and pulled a 6 on the 1-10 HR chance for the dramatic, walk-off, two-run homer for a 6-5 Seawolves win.
Game 2
There were no dramatics in this one as the Explosion bats went ice cold in the fog of San Francisco, as five Seawolves combined to no-hit TER in a 5-0 win. Bundy went 5.2 perfect inninigs, but was pulled after issuing a two-out walk to Albies. Shreve, Gant, Hernandez, and Kolarek then finished off the no-no. McCullers got knocked around for 3 runs in the 2nd (Walsh and Tucker tripled and Moran doubled), then another two runs in the 3rd (Grandal and Cronenworth with back-to-back doubles).
Game 3
Now in the comfort of their friendly confines, TER looked to get back into the series...or at least get a hit. The latter did not happen in the first, as both teams went down quietly as Buehler struck out three Seawolves and Happ got a K and two groundouts. In the top of the 2nd, Walsh touched up Buehler for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead, but that was quickly erased by McCutcheon's solo shot in the bottom half. TER would then take a 2-1 lead in the 3rd on Ahmed's solo blast, but that was subsequently erased in the 4th on Story's two-run shot. And then.....the Explosion bats went cold once again. Over the next 6 scoreless innings, they would muster just 1 hit and 2 walks off Happ, Gant, Shreve, Sims, Thielbar, and Minor. For the Seawolves, they would score 5 more runs on 4 homers...two more by Walsh, and one each by Grandal and Phillips, for the 8-2 win. It's awful tough to win when you get can't hit, and so far Terre Haute had 4 hits game one, 0 in game two, and 3 in game three. Would the horrible dice rolling turn for Tom and his Explosion in game four?
Game 4
No...no it would not. The Strat gods picked Terre Haute for their annual postseason voodoo, as the rolls continued to work against them. They would put up just 3 hits and 2 runs, losing game four by the score of 9-2. Austin Gomber went 5 strong innings for the win, and Keller threw four shutout innings for the save. Grandal and Moran each drove in 3 runs apiece in the win, with Grandal earning the series MVP by hitting .353 and leading the team with 6 runs and 5 RBI's on three doubles and two homers.
