11-08-2023, 03:23 AM
Iron Horse Division Champions Maine Pale Hose hosted Wild Card Higglytown Heroes in the ALDS.
Game 1 matched aces Shane Bieber (15-5) against Maine’s Corbin Burnes (17-9). A pitcher’s duel ensued, with the game knotted at 1 through 7. Higglytown scratched the go-ahead run in the 8th, and Adam Duvall added a pinch hit homer in the 9th to secure a 4-1 win.
Maine sent Dylan Cease (13-6) to try to even things against Higglytown’s Luis Severino (8-4). Cease was powerful (12 strikeouts) but wild (7 walks), and the Heroes wore him and two relievers down en route to a 7-2 victory.
The series shifted to Higglytown for a battle of lefties with identical 10-6 regular season records, with the home squad’s Sean Manea opposed by Maine’s Carlos Rodon. The Pale Hose chased Manea early and Rodon took a 3-2 lead into the 6th. The home team scrambled to load the bases, and Isaac Paredes popped a grand slam to take the lead, which the Hero bullpen stood up for an 8-3 decision.
Game Four saw Hero Bailey Ober (4-2) take the mound against Marco Gonzales on a rainy evening. Both pitchers were sharp, but Gonzales particularly so, allowing just one baserunner in three innings. A long rain delay chased Gonzales, but Kyle Hendricks was equally sharp for three more innings, until Christian Walker led off the seventh with a homer, for the game’s first run. It would be the only run, as the Hero pen retired the final nine batters to preserve a 1-0 series finale.
Congrats to Jim and Maine for a great season and a close-fought series, in which nearly every game could have tilted the other way. Bring on Donnie Ballgame.
Game 1 matched aces Shane Bieber (15-5) against Maine’s Corbin Burnes (17-9). A pitcher’s duel ensued, with the game knotted at 1 through 7. Higglytown scratched the go-ahead run in the 8th, and Adam Duvall added a pinch hit homer in the 9th to secure a 4-1 win.
Maine sent Dylan Cease (13-6) to try to even things against Higglytown’s Luis Severino (8-4). Cease was powerful (12 strikeouts) but wild (7 walks), and the Heroes wore him and two relievers down en route to a 7-2 victory.
The series shifted to Higglytown for a battle of lefties with identical 10-6 regular season records, with the home squad’s Sean Manea opposed by Maine’s Carlos Rodon. The Pale Hose chased Manea early and Rodon took a 3-2 lead into the 6th. The home team scrambled to load the bases, and Isaac Paredes popped a grand slam to take the lead, which the Hero bullpen stood up for an 8-3 decision.
Game Four saw Hero Bailey Ober (4-2) take the mound against Marco Gonzales on a rainy evening. Both pitchers were sharp, but Gonzales particularly so, allowing just one baserunner in three innings. A long rain delay chased Gonzales, but Kyle Hendricks was equally sharp for three more innings, until Christian Walker led off the seventh with a homer, for the game’s first run. It would be the only run, as the Hero pen retired the final nine batters to preserve a 1-0 series finale.
Congrats to Jim and Maine for a great season and a close-fought series, in which nearly every game could have tilted the other way. Bring on Donnie Ballgame.