Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Pirates, Red Sox Draw in Second Place Match-up

In a one-game playoff between the second place team of the Fleur De Lis Division and the second place team of the Bluegrass Division, , the Red Sox and the Pirates fought to a 10-10 tie at the end of the six innings when the game was called by expiration of the time limit.

The visiting Sox opened the game in the first against Dave Porta, working his first start after missing over a month with an injury, by breaking on top with four runs.  The lead off batter struck out on pitch in the dirt but the batter reached base.  The second batter singled but the advanced to second on an error and runner scored.  After a strike out and a walk, the next batter hit a fly ball to short right which fell in.  A  throw to second seemingly forced the runner advancing from first.  But the field umpire, after the end of the play, ruled the play an infield fly and the batter was out, a run scored and runners was left on second..  An error and a single plated the third and fourth runs of the inning before Bill  Keeling threw out a runner to John Denny at first.

The Pirates took advantage of sloppy play by the Sox to cut the Sox lead in half.  Leo Brown reached first when the third strike got away.  Juan Ortiz's hustle forced an errant throw and Dustin Stover's slide into first beat the first baseman to the bag to load the bases.  A walk to Bobby Blair drove in a run and John Denney's fielder's choice scored the other.

The Sox went three up three down in the second- Dave's third K, a pop out to Bill and a 5-3 ground out, Bobby to John.

The Pirates made it 4-3 in the bottom as Chris Gregory walked, stole second and third and scored on a Sox error.

An error allowed the only Sox runner in the top half of the third.  A fly out to Leo in left, a 5-4 fielder's choice (Bobby to Bill) and a 6-3 ground out (Dustin to John) stranded the runner.  The Pirates wasted Bill's single in the bottom half.

Dave's fourth and fifth strike outs started the fourth and another Dustin to John ground out put the Sox down in order.

The Pirates then took the lead.  John reached on an error and David Stierle singled.  Brent Bonte reached on a fielder's choice with David out at second and John advancing to third.  Chris walked to load the bases.  Charlie Gabriel reached on an error with a run scoring and Leo drove in one with a single and another scoring on an error on the play.  The score after four was 6-4.

Both teams added runs in the fifth.  The Sox got three.  A single, fielder's choice (Dave to Bill), single and walk loaded the bases, and a double off of a pitch well out of the strike zone cleared the bases and made the score 7-6.  Two more singles made it 8-6.  The other Sox outs was another 6-3 ground out (Dustin to David at first) and Dave's sixth K.

The Pirates retook the lead with three of their own.  Juan singled and stole second.  Dustin walked but was forced at second as Bobby reached on a fielder's choice.  John Denney drove in two with a single and David drove in the third with a single.  The Sox got out of the inning trailing 9-8 after a stolen base by David and a walk to Brent.

In the sixth the Red Sox regained the lead.  After a lead off walk, a single and a sacrifice (Dave to John) put runners on second and third.  The next batter singled to center with the runner from third scoring.  But the runner from second was cut down by a one hop strike from Chris to Juan.  The Sox added the go ahead run on another hit before Dave recorded his seventh strike out.

Trailing 10-9, the Pirates opened the inning (the last since time had run out) with a double by Bill.  A single by Juan drove in Bill to tie the score.  Juan stole second went to third on Dustin's single.  Dustin stole to put Pirates at second and third with no outs.  After a strike out, John was walked to load the bases.  But a comebacker to the pitcher resulted in a 1-2-3 double play and a 10-10 tie game result.

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