2023 NATIONAL LEAGUE WILD CARD SERIES “C”
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| SERIES PREVIEW – The N.L East Champion Baltimore Comets (99-63) face the N.L. Central third place Columbus Explorers (91-71). Baltimore prevailed in the regular season series 7 games to 6. |
| GAME #1 – Logan Gilbert 15-8 (2.33) vs. Sonny Gray 11-7 (3.18)
It didn’t take long for the Explorers to get on the board. Raimel Tapia opens the game with a double to centerfield and DJ LeMahieu brings him home on a 2-run blast to center, and just like that it’s 2-0 Columbus. Gilbert strikes out the side in the bottom half of the 1st, but the Comets get to him in the 2nd. Henry Ramirez, Josh Donaldson, and Christian Vazquez start the Baltimore 2nd with 3 straight singles to load the bases with no outs. Gilbert strikes out Nick Castellanos and gets Kevin Neman to line out to second. With 2 outs, Jorge Polanco smashes a Gilbert pitch to deep left center, clearing the bases, putting the Comets in front 3-2 after 2. The lead is short lived. A LeMahieu walk and Giovanny Urshela double puts Explorers at 2nd and 3rd with one out. Donovan Solano flys out to the right field corner, but it is deep enough to advance both runners, tying the game. Charlie Blackmon follows with a single, plating Urshela with the go-ahead run, making it 4-3 Columbus. Baltimore ties it up in the 5th thanks to a Matt Olson double and Henry Ramirez RBI single. With the score tied at 4, Gilbert gets the first out in the 6th. Clarke Schmidt is called on in relief. Schmidt would walk Castellanos and Newman to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one down. Collin McHugh gets the call for Columbus. McHugh walks Polanco to load the bases. Josh Bell comes to the plate and grounds the ball to Urshela who comes home with it and Robinson Chirinos drops it and the go ahead run scores. With the bases still jammed, Olson hits a chopper back to the mound, McHugh gloves it and throws it home … in the dirt, the ball gets away from Chirinos, and Newman scores for a 6-4 Baltimore lead. McHugh gets Renfroe to ground into a double play to end the inning, but the Comets score 2 runs on 3 walks and 2 Explorer errors. Back-to-back doubles by Tapia and LeMahieu gets a run back for Columbus in the 7th. Blackmon would lead off the 8th with a single for the Explorers. He would steal 2nd and move to 3rd on a Daulton Varsho groundout. Enrique Hernandez at the plate flys out to Hunter Renfroe in right, Blackmon tags and heads home and is gunned down at the plate, preserving the 6-5 lead. Evan Phillips pitches the 9th for Baltimore. He strikes out Stubbs and Tapia for the first 2 outs. Bringing LeMahieu to the plate who flies out to the wall in right. Baltimore holds on to win the opener. Baltimore 6 – Columbus 5 Win: Sonny Gray 1-0 (6.00) |
| GAME #2 – David Peterson 10-6 (4.04) vs. Tyler Anderson 14-8 (2.84)
Peterson walks the bases loaded in the first without retiring a batter and he gets the hook after facing only 3 batters. He is replaced by Rony Garcia. Renfroe follows with a double into the gap for a 2-0 Comet lead. Baltimore would pick up another run on a Christian Vazquez ground out and a 4th run on a Castellanos RBI double, and it’s 4-0 after 1. The Comets would add a run in the 2nd for a 5-0 lead. Tyler Anderson pitches well, completing 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball. Hector Neris and Jake Woodford would combine to complete the shutout, putting Baltimore just a game away from moving on. Baltimore gets out hit in this one 9-4, but draw 6 walks without issuing any. Baltimore 5 – Columbus 0 Win: Tyler Anderson 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #3 – Miles Mikolas 19-5 (2.23) vs. Jose Urquidy 14-9 (3.66)
Comets draw first blood in the 3rd, compliments of a Kevin Newman triple and a Jorge Polanco RBI single. Hunter Renfroe’s solo homerun in the 4th tacks on a run to make it 2-0 Baltimore. Columbus gets on the board in the home half of the 6th, Raimel Tapia leads off the inning with a single, he’ll come around to score on a LeMahieu RBI double. Later in the inning, LeMahieu would score on an Urshela SAC fly, tying the game at 2. Charlie Blackmon leads off the 7th with a solo blast, putting the Explorers in front. To the 9th, Columbus retires the first 2 Baltimore batters before Harold Ramirez walks. Myles Straw is called on to pinch run and Alex Call pinch hits. Straw steals second and scores on Call’s RBI single, tying the game 3-3. In the bottom of the 9th, a Joey Wendle error on a Solano ground ball puts the winning run on 2nd with no outs. Odubel Herrera comes in to pinch run, and he steals third, bringing up Blackmon, and Charlie tees off again slamming a game-winning 2-run homerun to right center. Columbus 5 – Baltimore 3 Win: Bryan Abreu 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #4 – Jose Quintana 13-9 (3.22) vs. Josh Winder 13-6 (3.86)
Daulton Varsho’s 2-run homerun in the 2nd puts Columbus in front early. Back-to-back doubles by Matt Olson and Hunter Refroe in the 4th cuts the Explorer lead in half, but the pitchers take over and that’s the final score, 2-1 Explorers. Clarke Schmidt, with a stellar performance for Columbus, pitching 4 2/3 innings of 1-hit, shutout ball. Columbus 2 – Baltimore 1 Win: Clarke Schmidt 1-1 (0.00) |
| GAME #5 – Sonny Gray 11-7 (3.18) vs. Logan Gilbert 15-8 (2.33)
Columbus breaks on top early, with 2 in the first, compliments of a Giovanny Urshela 2 run blast. Matt Olson’s 2-out, solo homerun in the 3rd puts the Comets back within 1. Columbus gets two more in the 4th on an Enrique Hernandez RBI double and Raimel Tapia RBI single to take a 4-1 lead. In the 7th, it was Urshela again, with his 3rd hit of the game, a 2-out single. He would come around to score on a Charlie Blackmon RBI hit, making it 5-1. One inning later, a Hernandez single, Robinson Chirinos RBI double, and a DJ LeMahieu RBI single, up the lead to 7-1. That was way more than Columbus would need, as the Comets couldn’t put anything together. Felix Bautista, Jimmy Herget, and Andrew Watz pitch 5 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball, to shut down Baltimore. The Explorers complete the sweep at home and send the series back to Baltimore for a winner take all game 6. Columbus 7 – Baltimore 1 Win: Felix Bautista 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #6 – David Peterson 10-6 (4.04) vs. Tyler Anderson 14-8 (2.84)
It all comes down to this one. Columbus breaks out on top with another early run after Giovanny Urshela strikes again, this time with a 2-out RBI triple that plates B Donovan for a 1-0 lead. Christian Vazquez would go deep in the bottom of the 2nd for Baltimore to knot the game at a run apiece. The game would remain tied until the bottom of the 5th when, with one on and one out, Jorge Polanco goes deep off Collin McHugh to put the Comets in front 3-1. Baltimore would add to their lead with a run in the 7th, on an RBI double off the bat of Josh Donaldson, and a run in the 8th, on a Matt Olson solo homerun, to take a 5-1 lead into the 9th. The Comets call on their closer, Evan Phillps. Columbus would put 2 on with 2 out, before Phillips strikes out Tapia to preserve the victory and series win for Baltimore. Baltimore 5 – Columbus 1 Win: Tyler Anderson 2-0 (0.71) |
| SERIES SUMMARY – Being a division champion comes in handy as Baltimore prevails in 6 games and moves on. The home team won all 6 games, so I’m optimistic the Comets would have prevailed if there were a game 7, but I’m glad we didn’t need to find out!
Some interesting stats: David Peterson started 2 games for the Explorers, pitching 0 IP, yielding 3 runs on 0 hits, but 4 walks. Urshela and Tapia had a great series for Columbus, each with 9 hits! Tyler Anderson was the series MVP, pitching 12.2 innings, yielding only 1 run on 12 hits, striking out 7, winning 2 of the Comets 3 victories. The Baltimore offense was anemic, batting only .186 for the series. |