Outlaws go back-and-forth with Infidels, split

Over the most of the past eight seasons, The Flagstaff Outlaws and Ravenswood Infields trade punches and usually come out even. In 2019, the Infidels and Outlaws once again hook up and do the same thing, punching to another split.

Game 1: Foltynewicz v. Wacha – After four scoreless innings, Ravenswood opens up the scoring on a two-run homer from Wilmer Flores in the top of the fifth.

Mike Foltynewicz had only given up two hits over his first five innings, but in the sixth, he gets rattled. A lead off groundball by Andrelton Simmons is booted by David Freese. After getting a fly ball out, Folty looses command by walking the Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Judge to load the bases. George Springer sends a fly ball to deep enough to left field to let Simmons score on the sacrifice fly. But Jonathan Villar grounds out to end the threat.

Michael Wacha gets through seven innings keep the score at 2-1 Ravenswood, but the Flagstaff bullpen falters late. Ji-Man Choo comes off the bench to hit a solo homer in the eighth and Freese adds an RBI double in the ninth.

Folty also got through seven before turning it over to his bullpen and they were better. Three relievers teamed over the final six outs to keep the Outlaws off the board and gave the Infidels a 4-1 victory.

W: Foltynewicz (5-4)
L: Wacha (2-5)
Sv: None
HRs: RAV – Flores (5), Choi (5); FLG – none.

Game 2: Rodriguez v. Chirinos – Eduardo Rodriguez struggles in the opening inning, letting eight Outlaw batters come to the plate. The good news was that he left the bases loaded and only two runs scored.

Rodriguez gives up a run in the fourth after Yonny Chirinos prolonged the inning with a two-out single. Denard Span triples scores the pitcher. Int he fifth, Rodriguez allows two more runners and gets pulled, with one of those runners scoring against his line, leaving the Infidels behind 4-0.

Meanwhile, Chirinos was dealing. He throws six scoreless innings, scattering just three hits over that time. In the bottom of the sixth, with the game close and the pitcher due up, Flagstaff decides to let Chirinos hit so he could pitch the seventh. But the Outlaws break the game open with a three-run effort keyed by a two-run double from Goldschmidt.

Flagstaff goes to the bullpen with the seven-run lead, and the bullpen was up the job and Flagstaff evens the series with a 7-1 win.

W: Chirinos (2-3)
L: Rodriguez (3-4)
Sv: None
HRs: RAV – none; FLG – none.

Game 3: Odorizzi v. Johnson – Flagstaff takes an early lead on a Simmons solo home run in the bottom of third. That lead would be short-lived when Nick Markakis blasts a three-run homer. The Outlaws get one run back with Aaron Judge blasts a solo shot, his ninth, to get Flagstaff back with a run.

But that would be as close as the Outlaws would get. Marcus Semien cranks a solo blast in the sixth. In the ninth, Choi adds a RBI groundout.

Kirby Yates, who was with Flagstaff in 2018, gets a little payback, pitching a perfect ninth to earn the save and give the Infidels a 5-2 decision.

W: Stripling (4-1)
L: Johnson (2-4)
Sv: Yates (3)
HRs: RAV – Markakis (3), Semien (4); FLG – Simmons (4). Judge (9).

Game 4: Ross v. Romero – The one bright spot in the early Outlaw season has been Fernando Romero. Today, Romero scatters two hits over 6 1/3 innings, shutting out the Infidels.

While Romero was throwing zeroes, the Flagstaff offense supported with a two-run first and three-run fourth.

Flagstaff salvages a split with a 5-0 shutout.

W: Romero (5-1)
L: Ross (4-2)
Sv: None
HRs: RAV – none; FLG – none.