2023 NATIONAL LEAGUE WILD CARD SERIES “A”
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| SERIES PREVIEW – National Wild Card Round – #8 Portland Lumber Jax 81-81 vs. #1 Tempe Tempers 126-36. The odds are stacked against Portland with Tempe holding the extra ghost win and the 9-3 split during the regular season match ups. |
| GAME #1 – Zac Gallen 14-10 (2.26) vs. Justin Verlander 28-2 (1.02)
Justin Verlander looked a little rusty during the first couple of innings while Zac Gallen seemed locked in all game. Portland jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first on a Gleyber Torres RBI single after a walk and an error. In the 2nd, Max Keppler walked and Matt Duffy doubled, but David Peralta gunned Keppler at home to keep 1-0 game. In the 3rd, an extremely rare drop by Freddie Freeman allowed Chas Mccormick to score and put Portland up 2-0. Tempe finally got on the board in the bottom of the 3rd when Freeman walked, stole second and scored on a Xander Bogaerts double. 2-1 Portland. Jacob Degrom replaced Verlander and pitched a scoreless 5th and 6th. A.J. Minter a scoreless 7th. Gallen was masterful until the 7th when rookie of the year candidate Steven Kwan hit a game tying solo shot. In the bottom of the 8th, Tempe loaded the bases with one out, but Gallen got Sterlin Thompson and Austin Slater to fly out. Yency Almonte tossed a scoreless 9th. In the bottom of the 9th with one out, Gallen surrendered a solo walk-off homer to Peralta. Gallen pitched a great game, but the Lumber Jax only managed three hits the entire game. Peralta was the player of the game – saving a run with his defense and then hitting the walk off homer. Tempe 3 – Portland 2 Win: Yency Almonte 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #2 – Jose Suarez 8-6 (3.07) vs. Martin Perez 26-5 (1.61)
In the bottom of the 1st, Xander Bogaerts walked, stole second and scored on a Rob Refsnyder RBI single. In the bottom of the 3rd, Xander Bogaerts and Jose Ramirez each singled, but JOse Suarez managed to work out of the jam. In the top of the 4th, Roberts led off with a double and then moved to third on a Austin Barns sac bunt. Martin Perez walked C.J. Cron, but then got Gleyber Torres and Seiya Suzuki to line out. A Story solo shot in the bottom 4th put Tempe up 2-0. In the 6th, Leody Taveras and Max Kepler each singled, but Dany Jimenez replaced Perez and induced a double play. In the bottom of the 8th, David Peralta singled. Billy Hamilton pinch ran and stole second. Sean Bouchard then slapped a pinch hit double to score Hamilton. Adres Munoz pitched a scoreless 9th for the save. Tempe 3 – Portland 0 Win: Martin Perez 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #3 – Yu Darvish 25-5 (2.03) vs. Tyler Mahle 10-5 (3.60)
J.T, Realmuto returned “Itching” to play after an 11 day DL stint and made his presence known quickly. Tempe’s number four hitter, tripled in two runs and scored on a Steven Kwan single in the 1st to put Tempe up 3-0. He then hit a three-run homer in his second at bat in the 3rd. Yu Darvish gave up only one hit over five scoreless innings and then turned it over to the pen with a 7-0 lead. Gleyber Torres and Luis Robert hit solo shots in the 7th off Anthony Bass to avoid the shutout. Tempe 8 – Portland 2 Win: Yu Darvish 1-0 (0.00) |
| SERIES SUMMARY – The number one seed moved on with the three-game sweep. David Peralta and J.T. Realmuto share a co-MVP. Peralta led the way in game one and Realmuto owned game three. Realmuto only had two plate appearances in the series, but he led the team in RBI and total bases. J.T. Realmuto – 1.000 avg, 3500 SLG, 1 HR, 1 3B, 2 R, 5 RBI, 7TB |