Sale hit hard, but Outlaws rebounds to beat Furies

The Flagstaff Outlaws aren’t used to seeing Chris Sale get hammered, but that is exactly what the South Loop Furies did to him. Luckily, the team was able to weather more poor offense to take the series victory.

Game 1: Sale v. Garrett – South Loop struck early and often as Aaron Hicks opened things up with a solo bomb in the first. A Greg Bird sac fly followed by a Hicks RBI single in the second made it 3-0. Three straight singles with two outs in the fifth tacked on another tally. Sale started the sixth, but a single to Jorge Polanco ends his day. Polanco would later score on a Bird homer to put the score at 6-1.

Eleven hits and two walks, five runs, four earned, and just four strike outs made this his worst start in an Outlaw uniform.

Amir Garrett is not a good pitcher, but he was good enough to get eleven outs while staked to the early lead. Three long relievers helped keep Flagstaff in check as South Loop wins the opener in a laugher, 8-1.

W: L. Garcia (2-1)
L: Sale (7-2)
Sv: None
HRs: FLG – Judge (14); SLF – Hicks (4), Bird (2).

Game 2: Greinke v. Dickey – South Loop keeps the momentum going, getting a two-run homer from Nick Castellanos in the top of the first off of Zach Greinke.

Flagstaff manages to tie the game up on RBIs from their middle infield combo, Elvis Andrus and Joe Panik.

The top of the fourth sees Starlin Castro crank another bomb off of Greinke, a solo blast, to put the Furies back on top.

At that point, Flagstaff has had enough. In the bottom of fifth, nickels and dime R.A. Dickey, sending eight men to the plate for three singles and a pair of walks that strings together three runs and see Flagstaff take a 5-3 lead.

From there, Greinke wiggles out of leadoff double in the sixth to keep the Furies in check. Then Nick Goody, Jacob McGee and Blake Parker each handle their inning of work to close out the 5-3 victory for Flagstaff.

W: Greinke (8-1)
L: Dickey (2-4)
Sv: Parker (17)
HRs: SLF – Castellanos (5), Castro (6); FLG – none.

Game 3: Wood v. Nelson – The series moves to South Loop and a pitchers duel breaks out. Eight innings of zeroes go up on the scoreboard as Alex Wood holds South Loop to just three hits over seven innings while Jimmy Nelson allows four hits over 6 1/3.

In the ninth, Pat Neshek has to face the heart of the Outlaw order. Paul Goldschmidt strikes out, but Aaron Judge crushes a Neshek offering deep into the left-center stands to give the game it’s only run.

Blake Parker allows a leadoff single to Lorenzo Cain, but Hicks grounds into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat and the game. Flagstaff 1, South Loop 0.

W: Goody (4-1)
L: Neshek (0-2)
Sv: Parker (18)
HRs: FLG – Judge (15); SLF – none.

Game 4: Ramirez v. Porcello – J.C. Ramirez steps into his role of #5 starter for Flagstaff and delivers a solid effort: seven innings, six hits, two runs. Rick Porcello just stepped in it.

Polanco gets to Ramirez early with a solo homer in the first, but that was the lone right spot. Andrus doubled in two in the second, Shaw doubled in two in the third, and Goldy and Judge each added RBIs in the fifth to break open a 6-1 lead for the Outlaws.

Flagstaff pulls away and takes the series behind a 9-2 decision.

W: Ramirez (3-1)
L: Porcello (0-5)
Sv: None
HRs: FLG – Springer (14); SLF – Polanco (2).