Outlaws falls to Furies
In what is becoming a disturbing pattern of losing to South Loop, the Flagstaff Outlaws dropped their third regular season series out four to the Furies.
During Flagstaff’s 2018 tremendous run, South Loop was only one of two teams to take a series from the Outlaws, doing it twice. But when it really counted in the playoffs, the Outlaws beat the Furies in five games during the OLDS.
But 2019 has started out with more South Loop dominance.
Game 1: Heaney v. Wacha – Flagstaff jumped out to a 3-0 lead early, getting a first-inning Paul Goldschmidt RBI groundout and a fourth-inning Jonathan Villar 2-run homer.
But all the work was undone in the fifth when Michael Wacha loaded the bases with one out. Nick Castellanos drew a walk to get South Loop on the board. Yadier Molina then hit a sacrifice fly, but on the play, Aaron Judge threw to third, overthrowing the third basemen, allowing a second run to score.
That error would be costly one inning later when Asdrubal Cabrera led off the sixth with a solo homer, giving South Loop a 4-3 lead.
From there, the Furies bullpen keeps their momentum, allowing just two walks over the final four innings and South Loop escapes with a 4-3 victory.
W: Duffey (1-0)
L: Wacha (1-2)
Sv: Edwards (4)
HRs: SLF – Cabrera (2); FLG – Villar (4).
Game 2: Porcello v. Chirinos – A scoreless tie through ten frames in broken up in the 11th against closer Ryan Pressly who allowed a clutch three-run double to Buck Farmer in what would eventually turn into a 4-0 win for the Furies.
Starter Rick Porcello went nine inning, allowing just six hits with eight strikeouts in an 100-pitch effort. Yonny Chirinos was just as good over six innings, giving up three hits and three runs while striking out seven in his 106 pitches.
W: Colome (2-1)
L: Pressly (0-2)
Sv: None
HRs: SLF – none; FLG – none.
Game 3: Gonzalez v. Johnson – In a carbon copy of Game 1, Flagstaff once against jumps out to an early 3-0 lead as Eduardo Nunez, George Springer and Kevin Plawecki racked up RBIs.
And once again, South Loop rallies. Aaron Hicks gets a two-run double in the fifth. Greg Bird adds a sixth-inning run-scoring groundout. In the seventh, Molina puts the Furies on top with an RBI double.
Gio Gonzalez only lasts four innings for South Loop, but the Furies pen once again dominates Flagstaff bats, allowing a lone hit and a lone walk over the final five innings. South Loop 4, Flagstaff 3.
W: Fillmeyer (2-1)
L: Arano (1-1)
Sv: Edwards (5)
HRs: SLF – none; FLG – Springer (4).
Game 4: Guerra v. Romero – Staring down a possible sweep, Flagstaff turned to Fernando Romero to try and keep that from happening.
Romero answered the call with a two-hit effort over seven innings. When he left the game, Flagstaff was up 2-0 behind RBIs from Joe Panik and Kevin Plawecki.
After Romero was lifted, South Loop immediately went into rally mode in the eighth, getting a single and walk off of Luis Cessa. Lorenzo Cain grounded back to Cessa, but he had to go to first base for the first out, moving both runners up. Darren O’Day relieved Cessa and get Jorge Polanco to fly out to center for a sac fly. But Aaron Hicks strikes out to end the rally.
In the ninth, Pressly comes into his usual closer situation and excels with a perfect ninth to give Flagstaff a 2-1 win, preventing the sweep.
W: Romero (2-1)
L: Guerra (2-2)
Sv: Pressly (8)
HRs: SLF – none; FLG – none.