Outlaws swept by Miners

For the first time since Chapter 3 of 2017, the Flagstaff Outlaws dropped all four games of a series. This time, it was the Joplin Miners who did the task. The last time, it was the same Miner franchise, just with a different team name and ownership as the New Milford Blazers accomplished the task.

Game 1: Wacha v. Tanaka – Joplin scored all their runs in a third inning outburst against Michael Wacha. Someone named Austin Wynns did the majority of the damage with a three-run shot with two outs. Three singles later, Ender Inciarte drove in the other run.

But Flagstaff chipped away. George Springer cranked a two-run double in the sixth inning to cut the deficit in half. In the eighth, Springer grounded into a run-scoring double play to further cut into the lead. But Craig Kimbrel got the final out of the eighth and a perfect ninth, all on strikeouts, to preserve a 4-3 victory for the Miners.

W: Tanaka (4-4)
L: Wacha (3-6)
Sv: Kimbrel (10)
HRs: FLG – none; JPM – Wynns (2).

Game 2: Chirinos v. Duffy – George Springer kept up his hot hitting, blasting a three-run shot in the top of the first to get the Outlaws on top.

Trailing 3-1 in the third, Joplin once again broke out the four-run outburst to take the lead. Carlos Santana hit a lead off homer while David Peralta, Chad Pinder and Inciarte each added consecutive RBi plays.

Down 6-3 in the eighth, Flagstaff railled behind a two-run homer from Aaron Judge and J.P. Crawford sac fly.

From there, the game would go into extras. In the top of the 12th, Flagstaff managed to load the bases off of a wild Kimbrel who mixed a single allowed among a pair of walks. Chris Sale, yes the Game 4 starter, would come out of the pen to strike out Eduardo Nunez to end the threat.

Mookie Betts ended the suspense with a lead off homer off of Gabriel Moya to start and end the bottom of the 12th. Joplin 7, Flagstaff 6.

W: Sale (3-1)
L: Moya (0-2)
Sv: None
HRs: FLG – Springer (8), Judge (11); JPM – Santana (9), Leon (1), Betts (10).

Game 3: Estrada v. Johnson – The series moves to Flagstaff, but the Outlaw bats got lost in the airport.

Marco Estrada teams up with three relievers to throw a six-hit shutout and Joplin wins easily, 7-0.

Once again, a multi-run outburst starts things off when Chad Pinder pops a three-run homer in the top of the first. Mookie Betts drives in three with two more homers later in the game.

W: Estrada (1-1)
L: Johnson (2-5)
Sv: None
HRs: JPM – Pinder (4), Betts (11, 12); FLG – none.

Game 4: Sale v. Tropeano – American Airlines still can’t manage to find Flagstaff’s lumber and the Joplin Miners rack up back-to-back shutouts, this time by an 8-0 score.

Chris Sale throws 100 pitches over seven innings of work, striking out 13 Outlaws and allowing just three hits and three walks in his effort.

Chad Pinder does most of the damage, cranking out three homers and driving in five to pace the Miners.

W: Sale (4-1)
L: Tropeano (0-2)
Sv: None
HRs: JPM – Pinder (5, 6, 7); FLG – none.