Outlaws start final chapter with victory over Jamboree
After losing their first two series against Bear Country, the Flagstaff Outlaws hooked up with the Jamboree for the fourth time with a chance to still salvage a tie or win the season series with a series victory.
Game 1: Sale v. Castillo – George Springer doubles and scores on Elvis Andrus’s double one batter later to give the Outlaws a quick 1-0 lead after just a half inning. Paul Goldschmidt would double in Joe Panik in the third to double that lead.
Castillo was touched from those two runs, but overall pitched effectively, going four innings and striking out six before being lifted early in a ‘bullpening’ strategy from the Jamboree.
That strategy would fall apart in the seventh inning. Brad Hand started the seventh, but a one-out double followed by a Joe Panik RBI single extends the Outlaw lead. Hand walked Springer and then allows an RBI single to Andrus.
Trying to put out the fire, Kenley Jansen is summoned, but an RBI single by Goldy followed by a three-run bomb from Aaron Judge ends the Jamboree’s night.
Chris Sale cruised. Six innings, 12 strikeouts, four hits allowed. Those 12 whiffs put Sale over 300 for the season, getting Mark Trumbo in the fifth to cross the threshold.
Flagstaff 8, Bear Country 1.
W: Sale (22-3)
L: Castillo (5-5)
Sv: None
HRs: FLG – Judge (38); BCJ – none.
Game 2: Greinke v. Paxton – After watching their bats go silent in the opener, Bear Country is faced with dealing with Zack Greinke. But the Jamboree were up to the task.
Ryan Zimmerman hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the second to get Bear Country on the board. Andrelton Simmons adds a RBI double later in the frame to make it 2-0. Zimmerman would add a run-scoring double in the third, followed by a Matt Adams single. Chase Headley hits a leadoff homer in the fourth and Adams adds a RBI groundout in the fifth to put Bear Country out to a 6-0 lead.
But the Outlaws would creep back. James Paxton went just three innings, but struck out eight of the 10 batters he would face. The bullpening works for awhile, but in the sixth, Flagstaff gets back-to-back triples off of Trevor Hildenberger and Judge singled in Andrus who had the second triple to make it a 6-2 game.
In the eighth, Travis Shaw comes off the bench to crank a two-run homer off of Hector Rondon to draw the Outlaws within a pair of runs at 6-4. Two singles later and the home crowd gets nervous, but Rondon strikes out J.P. Crawford to wiggle out of the jam.
Aroldis Chapman comes out to close it out and gives up a two-out walk to Andrus to bring Goldy to the plate as the tying run. But Chapman strikes Goldy out on four pitches and Bear Country evens the series, 6-4.
W: Miller (8-1)
L: Greinke (18-6)
Sv: Chapman (35)
HRs: FLG – Shaw (16); BCJ – Zimmerman (23), Headley (4).
Game 3: Ramirez v. Santana – Bear Country jumps on J.C. Ramirez early as David Murphy pops a two-run shot in the first. Elvis Andrus gets an RBI single in the top of the fifth, but Howie Kendrick gets that run right back on a sac fly in the bottom of the inning.
Both starters would leave after five innings of work. Jeurys Familia starts the sixth for Bear Country and after getting the first out, manages to load the bases on a pair of walk and single. With Ramirez due up, Flagstaff elects to pinch hit and Familia plunks Daniel Nava to force a run home. Brad Hand comes out and gets Enrique Hernandez to strikeout, but Springer draws a walk to tie the gane. Jansen comes on and gets the final out, but the game is now tied at 3-3.
Both bullpen would then put up zeroes through regulation. In the 10th, Bear Country goes to Hildenberger again and Khris Davis greets him with a solo blast to put the Outlaws up.
Blake Parker works around a one-out walk to Trumbo to lock down the 4-3 extra-inning victory for the Outlaws.
W: Shaw (5-3)
L: Hildenberger (1-3)
Sv: Parker (46)
HRs: FLG – Davis (33); BCJ – Murphy (25).
Game 4: Wacha v. Duffy – For the third straight game, Bear Country takes the lead first, scoring four runs off of Michael Wacha.
Murphy pops his second two-run first-inning bomb and he adds a sac fly in the fifth. Austin Slater also had an RBI single in the fourth.
Danny Duffy is strong through five innings, but he starts the sixth with a pair of walks. Davis strikes out, but Andrus cranks a three-run bomb and just like that, it’s a one-run game.
With much of their bullpen taxed from the usage in the first three games, Evan Scribner is asked to start the seventh. A walk to Travis Shaw is followed by a Goldy homer and the Outlaws take the lead, 5-4.
Goldy adds insurance in the eighth with an RBI single and Derek Fisher does the same in the ninth to make it 7-4.
Once again, Parker walks a batter with one out, but he gets the last two batters and locks down the series victory with the 7-4 decision for Flagstaff.
W: McGee (4-1)
L: Scribner (0-1)
Sv: Parker (47)
HRs: FLG – Andrus (18), Goldschmidt (24); BCJ – Murphy (26).