CMD would score first on a 2nd inning Goldschmidt solo HR. CMD added another run in the 3rd on a Semien walk, Seager double, and Acuna sf. A Hoerner double and Wade HR tied it in the 4th and chased Eovaldi for lefty specialist Alexander. Well supposed lefty specialist, he was greeted with a Gallo single and Schwarber HR. CMD retook the lead in the 5th on a Greene double, Azocar single, and Acuna 2 out HR. CMD added a run in the 7th on back to back Seager and Acuna doubles. RDW battled back in the 7th with a Gallo walk, Schwarber single, Schneider walk, a balk and a Trammell sf. Tied up heading into the 9th. After a Hoerner strike out CMD turned to JP France, with almost zero pitchers left in the pen, he proceeded to get Wade out on a line out and Gallo on a fly out. Running out of pitching CMD did not want to go to extra innings. RDW turned to Desclafani (great vs righties) and CMD having already subbed out Seager for defense was forced to let Allen (terrible vs righties) face him. As one would expect with strat Allen singled. Acuna would walk behind and Robles tried to bunt them over which turned into a error by the catcher loading the bases with no outs. Alzolay came in to face Goldschmidt, but Goldschmidt won the battle hitting a single to left to win the game. CMD 7-6
Game 2: Kelly vs Woodruff
CMD start the scoring off again in the 2nd on a Naylor walk, Hoerner 2 base error (this would become a theme) for Goldschmidt, Arenado double, and Semien sf. RDW got one back in the 4th on a Berti single and stolen base followed by a Hoerner (making up for the error) single. CMD added a run in the 5th on a Thomas walk and stolen base followed by a Seager 2 out single. Goldschmidt added a solo shot in the 8th. Devin Williams went the final 3 innings to record the 4-1 win. CMD 4-1
Game 3: France vs Williamson
I will make this quick, it was an ugly one sided game. Lots of walks and singles along with a Hoerner error gave CMD an early 8-0 lead. France was the unlikely stud giving up 2 runs on a Davis HR and going 8 innings. CMD added on a bunch more runs. CMD 17-2
Game 4: Manning vs Burnes
Game 4 got out of hand early as well. Singles by Semien, Seager, and Acuna, followed by a Goldschmidt walk, Arenado single, and Greene HR (after a Naylor flyout) had CMD up 6-0. Sabol hit a HR in the 2nd to put RDW on the board, he would single in the 4th to add another run but that was all RDW could muster. CMD added 2 more runs on a Naylor double and Greene's second HR of the game. Manning went 6 innings to get the win and CMD closed out the series. CMD 8-2
Tough way for Rick's season to end, I thought these teams were very evenly matched but when one team gets all the rolls it doesn't make for much of a series. As Rick commented all my bad Harmony Grove luck (0-5 bphr and 1-12 bpsingles) evened out with all my great Camden luck. Four errors by Hoerner and two by catchers on bunts made it even worse. Always a pleasure playing Rick, nice to finally get back in the win column vs him, been on the losing side in our series alot lately.
Gratz to Travis on a great season and advancing to the next round on the series blowout. He has a real strong team and manages it superbly, and anything said about the ridiculousness of Strat should not detract from that. That being said, this was just about the toughest series to have to sit through that I can remember. The combination of the one-sided rolling and numerous ill-timed breaks took its toll, especially in the 17-2 thumping in game three. Then, to have CMD put up 6 runs in the first inning of game four on Corbin Burnes, leaving him tired with only one out, was just too much to bear and I did something I have never done before......asked the opposing manager to play the rest of the game against Hal, simply for my own sanity. Redwood will now move on to focus on our offseason rebuild, as detailed in another post.
