ROUND 2 RESULTS
Mavs 4 Comets 0
Game 1: Mavs 9 Comets 6
In a game that was supposed
to be a pitcher's duel between aces, both offenses got off to a hot
start. The Mavs scored 3 in the first two innings on home runs by
Ohtani, Swanson and Kim. The Comets scored 4 in their first two
innings, highlighted by a 3-run homer by Neto. The Mavs tied the
game at four and it stayed that way into the bottom of the 8th when
Paul Goldschmidt hit a 2-run homer off of closer Evan Phillips to give
the Comets a 6-4 lead. The Comets brought in Bautista to close
out game 1, but he was met with 4 singles by the Mavs offense to tie
the game at six. Then, with two on and two out, Corbin Carroll
unloaded a 3-run homer to give the Mavs a 9-6 lead. Aroldis
Chapman threw a perfect bottom of the ninth for the save and a game 1
win for the Mavs.
Game 2: Mavs 6 Comets 1
Shohei Ohtani hit a 2-run
homer in the top of the first and then took the mound and made sure
that 2 runs is all it would take for the Mavs to win game 2.
Ohtani threw 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball, while a Mitch Garver 2-run
single and a Dansby Swanson homer gave the Mavs a commanding 6-1
lead. Four Mavs relievers shut out the Comets the rest of the way.
Game 3: Mavs 4 Comets 3 (11 inn)
Another incredibly close
game saw the Mavs jump out to an early 3-1 lead on Ohtani's 3rd homer
of the series. The score remained that way until the 7th, when
the Comets tied the game on a walk and three straight singles from the
top of the lineup. Both teams had multiple chances to win the
game, but neither team could get the clutch hit. After leaving
the bases loaded in the 10th, the Mavs were knocking at the door again
in the 11th. Rooker took a one-out walk, Ruiz pinch ran and stole
second and then took third when the throw sailed into the
outfield. Amed Rosario hit a long flyball to right and Ruiz was
left with a 30% safe chance to tag up and win the game. After
much deliberation, the Mavs decided to keep Ruiz at third and hope for
a two-out hit from Kim. Instead, Jose Quintana uncorked a wild
pitch allowing Ruiz to score and put the Mavs up 3-0 in the series.
Game 4: Mavs 6 Comets 2
Shohei Ohtani and Dansby
Swanson accounted for all 6 runs as each player knocked in 3
runs. Swanson hit his 3rd homer of the series. Cole Ragans
pitched a gem, taking a shutout into the 7th. A pinch hit double
by Whit Merrifield accounted for both of the Comets runs.
The series was much closer
than the results would indicate. A five-run 9th inning in game 1
and a wild pitch in game 3 gave the Mavs the sweep while both of those
games could have easily gone to the Comets.
Stars for the Mavs:
Ohtani (after going 0-18 with 12 strikeouts in round 1) goes 9-18 with
3 homers, 3 doubles, 2 stolen bases, 8 rbis, and goes 1-0 on the mound
with a 1.69 ERA. Dansby Swanson stayed hot, hitting .500 with 3
homers and 2 doubles. Ruiz had a weird stat line, starting 0
games while stealing 6 bases. Pagan, Chapman and Kelly combined
for 9 innings of shutout relief.
Stars for the Comets:
Whit Merrifield hit .455 with 2 doubles and 4 rbi. Jose Ramirez
hit .333 and Neto and Goldschmidt each homered. Brieske, Milner
and Butto combined for 7 innings of scoreless relief.
Rogues 4 Whiz Kids 3 -
Nelson Velazques hits 3 game winning homeruns!
For the 4th time in 5 seasons the Raleigh Rogues advance to the CBL
World Series after taking down the Philadelphia Whiz Kids in 7
games. The Rogues won the first 3. The Whiz Kids roared
back to take the next 3. In the finale the Rogues carried a 5-0
lead into the bottom of the 8th with Zac Gallen cruising. The
first two batters reached and Gallen was pulled and Ryan Borucki got
the next two batters, when Gary Sanchez was called in to pinch hit and
the Rogues countered with a righthander. Sanchez crushed the Jeff
Hoffman offering for a 3 run homer to cut the lead to 2. Josh
Hader was called on to close out the inning, but could not find the
plate and walked the two batters he faced. Dauri Moreta came in
and promptly loaded the bases by walking William Contrearas but finally
found the strike zone and struck out Josh Naylor to end the
threat. Moreta pitched around a double to close the game
out.
Gm1-With the score tied at 2
going into the 9th, Alejandro Kirk led off the frame with a
double. Nelson Velazquez was called on to pinch hit for Taylor
Walls and promptly deposited the Lucas Sims offering for a 2 run homer
giving the Rogues the 2 run lead. Josh Hader retired the side in
the 9th but not without the drama of allowing 2 Whiz Kids to reach
base. Aaron Nola and Clayton Kershaw matched up in a pitchers
duel that saw both leave with a 2-2 tie in the 7th and 6th innings
respectively. Kershaw allowed 5 hits 2 runs with 2 walks and 8
strikeouts, but allowed 2 homeruns. Nola left with one down in
the 7th after giving up 6 hits 2 runs 2 walks with 9 strikeouts and one
homerun. Ketel Marte, Garrett Cooper and Michael Harris hit solo
homers in the game. Harris also contributed a double and single
in 4 plate appearances. Final score Rogues 4 Whiz Kids 2.
WP-Reynaldo Lopez LP-Lucas Sims
Gm2-Another pitchers duel as
Michael King (6-4-1-1-16-0) and Edmundo Rodriguez (6.1-2-1-1-3-7-0)
followed with the teams being knotted at one run apiece going into the
10. Velazquez was called on to pinch hit again to lead off the
10th and as Yogi would say "deja vu" all over again, blasted a homer
off Bryan Abreu to give the Rogues a 1 run advantage. In the
bottom of the 10th Hoffman and Hader hurled a 123 inning to close it
out. Orlando Arcia was the only player with 2 hits in the
game. Final score Rogues 2 Whiz Kids 1. WP-Jeff Hoffman LP
Bryan Abreu.
Gm3-This time another tight game
ensued, however a few more runs were scored in this extra inning
affair. Whiz Kids jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 4th on Alex
Kirilloff's solo roundtripper. The Rogues tied it on Bo Naylor's
RBI double after a Cody Bellinger single and stolen base. The
Kids posted a 3 spot in the top of the 8th on a double by Contreras, an
Arcia RBI single, Harris' double and a 2 run single by Jose
Altuve. In the bottom of the 9th, Abreu walked the first 2
batters and Naylor reached on an infield single to load the bases with
no outs. 2 batters later pinch hitter MJ Melendez doubled in 2
runs. The tying run came across on Willi Castro's sacrifice fly,
sending the game into extras for the second consecutive game.
Michael Harris greeted reliever Tayler Saucedo with a dinger to give
the Whiz Kids a 1 run lead. However, the Rogues were not done as
Bryce Harper led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk and was
followed by more heroics by Velzquez as he crushed an Abreu fastball
for a walk off two run homer giving the Rogues a 6-5, 10 inning win and
a 3-0 lead in the series. Final Score Rogues 6 Whiz Kids 5.
WP-Ryan Borucki LP-Bryan Abreu
Gm4-This time the Whiz Kids,
facing elimination demonstrated some heroics of their own as pinch
hitter Nick Senzel broke up a 2-2 tie in the top of the 9th with a long
4 bagger to give the Whiz Kids a 3-2 victory. Raleigh took a 1-0
lead in the first on a leadoff Marte triple and a Corey Seager
double. The Philadelphia 9 took the lead in the top of the 2nd on
RBI singles by Max Kepler and Fernando Tatis. Bo Naylor's homer
in the 4th tied it and that is how it stood until Senzel, pinch hitting
for Nolan Arenado delivered. Final score Whiz Kids 3 Rogues
2. WP-Tyler Holton LP-Tayler Saucedo
Gm5-Clayton Kershaw was
magnificent, hurling 7 shutout innings allowing only 2 hits while
striking out 3 in the Whiz Kids romp over the Rogues in a 9-0
thrashing. Max Kepler had 3 hits including a homerun and 2
doubles, with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI. Contreras added 2 hits
(double, triple) and 4 RBI. The Kids pounded Rogues ace Nola with
7 hits and 8 runs over 5+ innings. Final score Whiz Kids 9 Rogues
0 WP-Clayton Kershaw LP-Aaron Nola.
Gm6-Another 1 run tilt won by
the Whiz Kids 5-4 . Raleigh took the lead 1-0 in the 3rd on Rob
Refsnyder's RBI single. Josh Naylor singled in a run in the 5th
to tie the score. The Rogues took the lead back in the top of the
6th on Seager's solo homer. In the bottom of the 6th Arcia's run
scoring single and Harris' double plus 2 wild pitches and a walk
resulted in 3 runs for the Kids. Philadelphia added a run in the
7th on 2 walks and a single by Tatis making the score 5-2 going into
the 9th. Marte blasted his 2nd homer of the series with a man on
to cut the score to 5-4 but that was it as Holton came on to strike out
the final 2 batters. Final score Whiz Kids 5 Rogues 4 WP-Hector
Neris LP-Reynaldo Lopez.
Gm7-The series stood at 3 games
apiece as the two teams faced off for the finale. Zac Gallen was
matching up against Logan Gilbert. Ketel Marte led the game off
with his 3rd homerun of the series to give the Rogues an early
lead. They added another in the 2nd on a single, a stolen base, a
hit batter and 2 ground outs. In the 4th 2 more runs crossed the
plate on a 2 out double by Kirk scoring Bellinger from first and a
double by Joey Gallo. The Rogues made it 5-0 in the 5th as Marte
scored from first on Bellinger's double. And that is where it
stood going into the 8th. Zac Gallen scattered 4 hits and no runs
over the first 7 innings. Pinch hitter DJ Stewart led off the 8th
with a single and when Gallen allowed his first walk of the game to
pinch hitter Christian Walker, he was pulled. Borucki was called
on to put out the fire and he got Harris on a fly and Altuve on a foul
out. When power hitting Gary Sanchez was announced as a pinch
hitter, to try to lessen the chance of a homer cutting deep into the
lead, Hoffman entered. Sanchez belted his 3 run shot. Hader
came in and walked the only 2 batters he faced and was pulled for
Moreta. Moreta loaded the bases with a walk but was able to
strike out Josh Naylor to end the threat. Going into the 9th the
score stood at 5-3. Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off the bottom of the
9th with a double but was left stranded as Moreta struckout Walker and
Harris and got Altuve to foul out to the catcher. Final score
Rogues 5 Whiz Kids 3 WP-Zac Gallen LP-Logan Gilbert ROGUES
ADVANCE TO THE WORLD SERIES!
Whiz Kids outscored the Rogues 28-23. Rogues led in homeruns
9-7. Whiz Kids hit .232 with a 3.23 era. Rogues hit .195
with 3.80 era
Nelson Velazquez hit .333 with 3 game winning homeruns and drove in 5 in 12 at bats
Alejandro Kirk hit .400 with 2 doubles
Orlando Arcia hit .375
Michael Harris hit .313 with 4 doubles and 3 homeruns and 4 rbi
Clayton Kershaw was 1-0 1.38 era allowing only 7 hits in 13 innings.
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Mitts have three viable closers and can trade one, possibly two,
of them. They are Kirby Yates (who we'd likely keep), Edwin
Diaz (a Met, but a frustrating one at times) and LH'd RP Jose
Alvarado. Mitts have so many holes on the field that if you
have depth somewhere there's a good chance we could use him. So
let me know if you head toward the draft without a closer - or want to
upgrade at that important spot.
Lake Delton has a little extra pitching and a dire need for lineup
help. I could probably move two or three starting pitchers this
offseason.
After taking some time to evaluate my new team, I’ve got a few players
I’d be willing to trade. The headliner out of these players would be
Nestor Cortes Jr. I’m willing to trade Colin Holderman, Mark Leiter
Jr., and/or Dom Smith as well, likely as a sweetener in a Cortes deal
to balance a gap in value.
