2021 NATIONAL LEAGUE WILD CARD SERIES “A”

Portland Lumber Jax @ Tempe Tempers

PortlandTempeSERIES PREVIEW – Portland was near the NL cellar at 23-35 with eight games to go, but they found a way to catch fire and rattle off 8 straight wins. This was just enough to allow them to finish tied for eighth when Rosemere dropped a nail biter on the final game of the season. Tempe finished the year with a 54-12 record, but they were only 6-4 in their final 10 games as they started resting players. Will the well-rested Tempers shake off the rust or will the Red Hot Lumber Jax stay on fire.
GAME #1 – Walker Buehler (3-3 4.09) vs. Yu Darvish (13-2 1.84)

Tempe started quickly with a two run homerun by Ozuna in the first. Jeffers sac fly in the 4th briefly cut the lead in half. Tempe responded for three runs in the bottom of the 5th capped by a Peralta two rbi double that knocked Buehler out of the game. Homeruns by Freeman and Brantly later in the 6th and 7th allowed Tempe to relax. Darvish gave up one unearned run over six innings.
W – Darvish, L – Buehler

Tempe 9 – Portland 1

GAME #2 – Jack Flaherty (2-2 4.37) vs. Kenta Maeda (7-4 2.11)

Valaka led off the game with solo homerun for Portland. Conforto added an rbi single in 3rd to put the Lumber Jax up 2-0. Tempe chipped away with a Peralta rbi sac fly in the 3rd and a Plawecki rbi single in the 4th. In the fifth they jumped ahead when Rendon doubled and Peralta singled him home. A Vlad solo shot tied it at 3-3 in the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the 8th with two out, Plawecki hit a huge double to drive two runs in. O’day closed out the 9th for the win.
W – Hahn, L – Peralta, S – O’day

Tempe 5 – Portland 3

GAME #3 – Kwang-Hyun Kim (6-1 2.05) vs. German Marquez (5-6 5.45)

Bogaerts hit a solo homerun for Tempe in top of the 2nd, but Arroyo answered with a two run homer in the bottom half. Tempe then fired back with an Ozuna two run rbi in the 3rd and a Freeman one run rbi double in the 4th. Ozuna and Dickerson solo shots in the 5th made a 6-2. Kim went 5 innings and then Ramirez pitched four no hit innings for the long save.
W – Kim, L – Marquez, S – Ramirez

Tempe 6 –  Portland 2

GAME #4 – Adam Waingwright (10-0 1.58) vs. Tyler Mahle (3-1 2.20)

Portland started hot. Riddle rbi double and then a Valaika three run homerun in the 2nd gave the Lumber Jax their first significant lead. Torres solo shot in the 3rd made it 5-0 and forced Wainwright to leave early for the first time all year. Taveras solo in 6th made it 7-0 Portland. Mahle pitched six scoreless innings. In the seventh, Tempe woke up and scored four runs capped by a three run homer by Freeman. Conforto hit an insurance solo in the bottom of 7th to make a 8-4 game. Bogaerts two run homer in the 8th cut the lead to only two. In the 9th Ona hit a rbi double to make a one run game, but Hernandez was able to strand the runner on 2B and record the final out on a strikeout. Portland needed all eight runs to get the win and avoid the sweep.
W – Mahle, L – Wainwright, S – Hernandez

Portland 8 – Tempe 7

GAME #5 – Yu Darvish (13-2 1.84) vs. Walker Buehler (3-3 4.09)

Torres solo and Taveras rbi double put Portland up 2-0 in the 2nd. Albies rbi single in 3rd put Tempe on the board. Peralta solo and Dickerson three run homer put Tempe back in charge 5-2 in the 4th. Darvish gave up just the two runs in six innings and the pen tossed three shutout innings to finish the series.
 W – Darvish, L – Buehler, S – O’Day

Tempe 5 –  Portland 2

SERIES SUMMARY – Tempe wins the series 4-1. Portland really needed perfect starts from Buehler in order to have a shot and it looks like he really ran out of gas getting them into the playoffs. Darvish showed why he was Tempe’s number one starter. Tempe’s offense performed well with a .250 AVG, .339 OPB, .488 SLG with 10 HR, but no individual hitter really stood out with Dickerson, Azuna, Freeman and Boaegarts all hitting two homeruns in the series.X

TRADE DEADLINE
WEDNESDAY 07/24/2024
AT 11:59 PM - ET!

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