The defending champion Austin Greyhounds (102-60) hosted their frequent playoff rivals, the San Francisco Seawolves (102-60). Buckle your seatbelts and prepare for some tense drama!
G1: Sanchez and Kirby pitched like aces as both teams struggled to score. AUS killed two rallies with DP and SF scored on a SF by Vinny P in 4th. After stranding two more in the 4th, AUS tried to take advantage of a Sanchez error in 5th, but Sosa was thrown out at home on a double. They did finally score and chase Sanchez with a Grichuk double in 6th but failed to take the lead with bases loaded, getting a K and DP. The game was still tied at 1 in 9th when Doyle drew a lead off walk and PH Rortvedt singled. Suarez got one out but then unforgivably walked Nicky Lopez. Turang caught Austin mapping with a suicide squeeze to give SF the lead! They didnt score again but Morejon and Martinez made it look easy. Ugh, this game was painfully reminiscent of Deadwoods dismal performance against Hollywoo. SF 2-1
G2: Falter and Ryan continued the great pitching early as only one run scored through 4 innings. That was Austins run in the 3rd on a groundout with runners on the corners. Amazingly not a double play! Austin added another run in the 5th on Smiths double to chase Falter. Brieske intentionally walked Devers and struck out Horwitz, but then Profar crushed a 3-run homer. Wow, the rout was on now! Oh wait, is that allowed in the playoffs? SF rallied with 2 hits in the 5th, doubling their total and AUS pulled Ryan with Tucker up. SF countered Herrin with Schmitt, who walked to load the bases. AUS went with Sands and SF pinch hit with Slammin Sammy Hilliard. Sammy lived up to his nickname by crushing a grand slam that cut the lead to one. Oh no! SF threatened again in the 7th with runners on 2nd and 3rd, but King and Duran escaped the jam. Turang was caught stealing in the 8th and SF went down 1-2-3 in the 9th. Whew, Austin ties it up with the series heading to San Francisco. AUS 5-4
G3: Olson and Littell looked shaky early, but SF stranded 6 and only led 2-1 through 3. Austin struck for 3 runs in the 4th to take the lead. Then the teams combined for 21 straight outs until Turang singled with one out in 7th. He was stranded and SFs leadoff walk in 8th was erased by a DP. Suarez struck out the side in 9th to end it. AUS 4-2
G4: Austins terrible defense hurt Kirby in the 1st as Lowes misplay led to a run. SF threatened to blow it open in 2nd but Turang hit into a bases-loaded DP. Lowe atoned with a solo HR, but Tucker answered with a 2-run homer in 3rd, punishing Kirby for letting Nicky Lopez single. Schmidt ran into trouble in the 5th but Boyd bailed him out. SF increased their lead in the 6th with a PH suicide squeeze by Isbel and then a Turang single. Austin never seriously threatened after that. With the series tied, its a best 2 out of 3 now. SF 5-2
G5: Hurrah, its a bullpen game! Presumably due to excessive drinking, Austins manager pitched Darvish to mop-up in G4 and would now be forced to start him tired. Inevitably, he had an easy 1-2-3 inning, but Austin didnt push their luck. Rasumussen walked 2 batters to start the game but escaped the jam. He wasnt so lucky in the 2nd. Sosa tripled and scored on a single, which set up Horwitz to hit a HR-1 chance that suddenly gave AUS the 3-0 lead. Sands put 2 SF runners on in 2nd but escaped. However, AUS wasnt going to let him face Tucker with 1 on and 2 out in 3rd. They called on lefty King and SF countered with Slammin Sammy again. He couldnt hit a grand slam this time but did slam it into the seats to cut the lead to one run. Kelly took over and got the next 10 outs. SFs bullpen kept it close but their batters failed to rally. AUS 3-2
G6: Back in Austin, the Greyhounds scored in the 2nd when Profar drove in Grichuk. Grichuk scored again in the 4th when Sanchez butchered a Butler grounder. It was still 2-0 after 5 as Ryan looked fantastic for Austin. Miller took over for SF and allowed two singles. Boyd came in to face lefty PH Devers, who defied the odds by hitting an RBI double. Sosa added a sac fly and Butler doubled to make it 5-0. Our 5-0 lead in G2 didnt last long, so I certainly didnt feel safe. However, Ryan continued to dominate, and Lowe added a pinch 3-run homer in another lefty-on-lefty crime. Ryan went 8 scoreless innings, allowing only 2 hits and a walk. Herrin got the last 3 outs and Austin advanced to the CLCS! SF 8-0
Wow, that was a very tense series with very close games until everything suddenly went Austins way in Game 6. Congratulations to Rick on putting together a great team that clearly deserved a better end than that. Strat can be a nasty little bitch though.
Overall, AUS outscored SF 23-15, the margin of G6. They hit 4 homers to 3 for SF. AUS hit .230/.290/.372 to an even more anemic .219/.276/.305 by SF.
Austins legendarily poor defense was even worse than in the regular season (13-20, 3 E) but did make some big plays and were very lucky there were only 20 X-chances. On the other hand, SF was 27-31 with 2 E, both by Sanchez.
With Soto having a relatively quiet series, Austins offense was led by Lowe (.357, 2HR, 6 RBI), Grichuk and Profar. However, Ryan probably deserves team MVP for winning his two starts with only 2 runs allowed in 13.2 IP and 16 Ks.
As for SF, Hilliard led the team with 2 HR and 6 RBI in only 7 PA. Turang, Tucker and Doyle were decent. Iglesias, Pasquantino (4 DP), Wong, Fitzgerald all hit under .200. SF pitching covered the full range of good, bad, and ugly.
Okay, I think its dinnertime, so Ill wrap up this epic saga now. Bring on EGR or HAR!
