2019 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Kluber started for the hometown Tempers and went three scoreless innings before yielding to a pinch hitter. Sale got the start for the Capital’s and racked up nine strike outs over seven scoreless innings. In the 6^th, Upton took Crick deep to break the 0-0 tie.  In the 8^th,  Upton went deep again to make it 2-0.  Tempe traded Upton mid-season to Sacramento, so he definitely made them regret that trade.  Perez and Strop pitched two scoreless innings to close it out.  Tempe managed only one hit and the Sacramento’s pitchers only faced 28 batters.

Sacramento 2-0,  W – Sale,  L – Crick,  S – Strop

Upton was back at it again hitting his 3^rd solo homerun of the series in the 1^st.  In the bottom of the 1^st, Tempe scored their first runs of the series.  Votto walked and Ozuna hit a two-run homerun.  Martinez then hit a solo shot to put Tempe up 3-1.  In the 2^nd, Stanton walked, Beltre doubled, and then Molina singled.  Stanton scored on the single, but Brantley gunned Beltre at the plate. 3-2 TEM.  Buchholz didn’t have his control, so Tempe did a double switch and brought in Sipp to pitch and Difo to play 3B.  Sacramento countered by bringing in the right handed hitting Reynolds to replace Moreland.  Reynolds grounded out, but Sac went to the bench again and had Grossman pinch hit for Greinke.  Grossman doubled to tie it up after two innings.  3-3.   In the bottom of the 5^th, Tempe went back on top on a Brantley rbi double.  4-3.  In the 6^th, Lindor reached on a walk, stole second base, moved to 3^rd on a fielder’s choice and then stole home with two outs to tie it up. 4-4.  In the top of the 7^th, Flores hit a solo homerun as a pinch hitter to give Sac their first lead since the 1^st.  TEM 5-4.  In the bottom of the 7^th a perfectly executed hit and run by Bogaerts put runners on the corners.  A Brantley sac fly scored JD and put Bogaerts at 2^nd when Stanton tried for the play at the plate. 5-5.  Braun struck out but ended up reaching on a passed ball.  Albies then walked to load the bases with one out.  Cespedes pinch hit for Castillo and hit a deep sac fly to put Tempe back in the lead.  6-5.   Braun tried to sneak a steal of home, but was called out for the final out.  In the top of the 9^th, Yates walked the lead off hitter Beltre.  DeShields then pinch ran for Beltre and stole 2B.  Molina then followed with a rbi sinlge.  Floro relaced Yates and then Castillo replaced Floro as Tempe played the platoons to get out of the inning.  6-6.  In the 11^th, Tempe’s last available pitcher Mikolas came on.  Sac’s last available pitcher Coleman came on in the 12^th.  The game remained tied until the 14^th, when Castro singled, was moved to second by Yadie, and then scored when Reynolds hit an RBI single.  7-6 SAC.  In the bottom of the 14^th, Bogaerts led off with a solo homerun to tie it again. 7-7.  Finally, in the bottom of the 17^th, Albies doubled to lead off the inning. The weak hitting Mathis fouled off two bunt attempts, so Tempe let him swing away.  The result was a slow grounder up the middle that scored the winning run.  8-7 TEM.  Mikolas got the win going 6 innings and only giving up one run in relief.

Tempe 8-7 17INN,  W – Mikolas,  L – Coleman

In the top of the 3^rd, Cespedes pinch hit for Mathis and doubled.  Tempe’s longest tenured player at eight years, Melky Cabrea then pinch hit for Kluber and singled to put runners on the corners.  Votto took one to the track that allowed Cespedes to outrun Stanton’s throw.  TEM 1-0.  Scherzer then settled down and didn’t allow a single hit for the next three innings.  Unfortunately for Sacramento, Tempe’s pen pitched seven scoreless innings, including 2.1 innings from Crick for the save.

Tempe 1-0,  W – SIPP, L – Scherzer, S – Crick

Due to the fog of war…the script was lost for game four so we’ll start in the bottom of the 9^th with two outs.  Tempe was leading 1-0 after scoring an unearned run in the 1^st inning.  Sacrament had runners on 3^rd and 1^st.  They sent Dickerson (who only had 8 SB during the year) on a straight steal of 2B. Mathis the defensive replacement catcher (1 error in 575 TC) tried to gun him to end the game and he air mailed it over 2^nd allowing the tying run to score on the error.   1-1.  Buchholz took the blown save, but he managed to get out of the inning and pitch a scoreless 10^th.  Grienke (the other game two starter) pitched a scoreless top of the 10^th for Sacramento.  Fields pitched a scoreless 11^th for Sacramento and Mikolas was perfect for Tempe in the bottom of the 11^th.  In the 12^th, Brantley continued his playoff heroics with a solo shot.  TEM 2-1.  Mikolas pitched another perfect inning in the 12^th.

Tempe 2-1 12INN  W – Mikolas  2-0,  L – Fields

Unlike some of the prior games, both starters went deep into the game.  In the 2^nd, Tempe got on the board with a Brantley double and then a pinch hit double by Miggy. TEM 1-0.  In the 3^rd, Ozuna crushed a solo shot. TEM 2-0.  Sacramento finally got to Kluber in the 6^th, when Lindor hit a solo shot to right. TEM 2-1.  In the 7^th, Albies gave Tempe some insurance with a solo shot.  TEM 3-1.  In the bottom of the 7^th, Sac threatened with runners on the 3^rd and 2^nd, but Hughes bailed out Kluber.   Tempe ended up using six relievers over the final 8 outs to preserve the win and wrap up the series.

TEM 3-1, W – Kluber, L – Stanek, S – Yates.

It wasn’t easy to pick an MVP, but I’ll give the nod to the pitcher that only pitched when the games went into extra innings.  Mikolas was 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 8 IP.  The series would have been completely different if he hadn’t won those two extra-inning games.  Sale was also deserving in a losing cause.  He was 1-0 with 0.00 ERA, 15 SO, 4 H, and 13 IP.