Outlaws drop another series to the Furies
The Flagstaff Outlaws have only dropped four series all season, to date, and two of those now come against the South Loop Furies, who could be their first-round playoff opponent if things shake out as they seem to be.
Game 1: Sale v. Nelson – South Loop gets on the board when Arron Hicks and Nick Castellanos have back-to-back RBI knocks in the first inning.
In the third inning, the Outlaws tie it up when George Springer homered and Aaron Judge added an RBI single to make it 2-2.
From there, Chris Sale and Jimmy Nelson cruise through six frames of work. With Sale due to lead off in the seventh, the Outlaws decide to pull Sale in hopes of squeezing out a run. The move pays off when Lane Adams doubled off the top of the wall and later scored on Elvis Andrus’s single.
From there, the Outlaw bullpen takes over, scattering a lone single over three innings with Blake Parker earning the save, securing the Outlaws a 3-2 victory.
W: Sale (17-3)
L: Ramirez (1-2)
Sv: Parker (39)
HRs: FLG – Springer (26); SLF – none.
Game 2: Greinke v. Porcello – This time it’s Flagstaff that takes an early two-run lead, getting a second-inning two-run ome run from Manny Pina.
The Furies get a run right back when Lorenzo Cain starts the top of the third with a double. Tommy Joseph moves Cain over with a ground out. With Rick Porcello up, Zack Greinke uncorks a wild pitch that allows Cain to scamper home, cutting the Outlaw lead to 2-1.
Both Greinke and Porcello go six and then the bullpens get together and throw up zeroes. In the bottom of the ninth, Parker comes on to try and earn his 40th save, but it wasn’t to be.
Parker gets the first out, but Eduardo Nunez doubles. Starlin Castro then cranks the walk-off home run, hanging Parker with his second blown save of the season. South Loop 3, Flagstaff 2.
W: Garcia (5-1)
L: Parker (3-2)
Sv: None
HRs: FLG – Pina (9); SLF – Castro (17).
Game 3: Wood v. Anderson – After going seven innings without scoring, the Flagstaff bats continue to struggle, getting shut out in Game 3.
Chase Anderson goes 6 2/3, allowing two hits, but walked five. Then three Fury relievers team up to nail down the 2-0 South Loop win.
Flagstaff’s best chance probably came in the first inning, when Anderson walked the bases loaded with one out. But Khris Davis grounds into the 6-4-3 to kill the rally. In the 8th, a lead off double from Joe Panik couldn’t pay off either.
South Loop didn’t do much better at the plate, outside of Castro’s two-run shot in the fourth that ended up being the only run scoring knock.
W: Anderson (6-5)
L: Wood (11-3)
Sv: Edwards (27)
HRs: FLG – none; SLF – Castro (18).
Game 4: Ramirez v. Ryu – After trading first inning runs, South Loop took control with a three-run second as Rene Rivera doubled in a run and scored on Asdrubal Cabrera’s homer.
The teams trade runs again in the fourth to make the score 5-2 but Flagstaff would start to rally.
A bases-loaded walk in the fifth is followed by solo homers in the sixth and seventh to pull Flagstaff even.
From there, the bullpen wage war, pushing the game into the 12th inning. At that point, Flagstaff only had Parker and Michael Wacha left. Flagstaff wanted to see if Parker could get through one inning of work, but Castro ends his night after one pitch, walking off the Furies for the second time in the series. South Loop 6, Flagstaff 5.
W: Edwards (4-2)
L: Parker (2-4)
Sv: None
HRs: FLG – Goldschmidt (17), Judge (30), Hernandez (4), Springer (27); SLF – Nunez (12), Cabrera (6), Castro (19).