Thanks to Casey Hoch of the Fremont Cannons for putting this together.

SERIES PREVIEW – Detroit and Tempe face off in a rematch of the 2019 World Series. Detroit hopes to continue mashing their way to one more series win while Tempe looks to keep the games close and then ride the best bullpen potentially ever assembled to the title.

Tempe started the game with an opener (Adam Wainwright 13Z) and then went directly to the Ramirez (*23 ZG). Detroit went with Kyle Cody (19 WH) for game one. Eramso Ramirez was perfect for 2.1 Innings. Detroit got to his replacement, Adam Kolarek in the 4th when Manny Machado crushed a two run homerun. Cody was wild, but he had a no hitter going until the bottom of the 4th when Brantley launched a three run homerun and made him pay for two earlier walks. Detroit came back with two in the 6th on a two run homerun by Bryce Harper. Tempe responded in the bottom of the 6th, with solo homeruns by Anthony Rendon and Carlos Brantley again to go back up 5-4. Jesse Hahn came on in the 9th to close out the game, but Yasmani Grandal hit very timely homerun to tie it a 5-5. Tempe only had one reliever left, so Hahn pitched the rest of the 9th, then the 10th, 11th, and 12th. Kyle Zimmer, Jmaes Hoyt and Zach Britton pitched the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th for Detroit. O’day, Tempe’s last available pitcher pitched a scoreless 13th and 14th. Wander Suero pitched a scoreless 13th for Detroit. In the bottom of the 14th, Detroit’s game four starter Carlos Carrasco was called on since he was the only remaining pitcher on the bench. He recorded two outs, but then walked two runners. Tempe’s DH Marcell Ozuna had already been pinch run for by Ender Inciarte, so Tempe called on J.D. Martinez. Martinez was left off the NLCS squad and he showed he belonged on the WS squad with a game winning double. Things might have gone differently if Detroit had been able to get to the 15th with Tempe out of options.

Tempe 6 – Detroit 5 (14 Innings)

W – Darren O’Day, L – Carlos Carrasco

YU Darvish (18 XYZ H) squared off against Aaron Nola (14 XYZ) in game two. The Crime was the first to strike when Yasmani Grandal hit his second homerun of the series with a two run shot off Yu Darvish. A RBI triple by Bruce Harper in the top of the 3rd made it a 3-0 lead. Darvish held Harper at third to limit any further damage. In the bottom of the 3rd, Anthony Rendon put Tempe on the board with a two-run homerun off Nola. 3-2 Detroit. Both starters pitched well until the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Xander Bogearts doubled and Kevin Pawecki singled him home to tie it a 3-3. Freddie Freeman than crushed a two run homerun to give Tempe the lead for the first time of the game. 5-3. Darvish left the game in the 7th and Ryan Sherriff and Nick Anderson pitched the final 2.1 innings to preserve the win.

Tempe 5 – Detroit 3

W – Yu Darvish, L – Aaron Nola, S – Nick Anderson 

GAME #3 – Kwang-Hyun Kim (6-1 2.05) vs. Chris Bassitt (5-4 2.86)

Chris Bassit (16 Z G) ran into trouble early in the top of the 1st inning. A walk and doubles by Marcell Ozuna, David Peralta and Michael Brantley put Tempe up 3-0. Bassit then settled down and pitched five scoreless innings before finally leaving in the 7th. Kim (20 Z G) was completely lights out and had only given up one hit through 7.2 innings. He finally ran out of gas in the 8th as Erik Gonzalez hit a surprise solo home run. Jesse Hahn and Nick Anderson pitched a hit-less 1.1 innings to secure the win and hold the Crime to only two hits in the game.

Tempe 3 – Detroit 1

W – Kwang-Hyun Kim, L – Chris Bassitt, S – Nck Anderson #2

Tempe sent Kenta Maeda (19 XYZ) to try and close out the series and Detroit responded asking Carlos Carrasco (14 XY) to just get them to game five. In the bottom of the first, Maeda allowed a walk to Bryce Harper, a double to Belt and then Yasmani Grandal launched his third homerun of the series to put the Crime up 3-0. In the top of the third, Ozzie Albies led off with a solo and an Marcell Ozuna two run homer tied it. 3-3. Carraso kept allowing Tempe to reach and the Crime finally yanked him in the 4th. Putting the game and he season in the hands of the stronger pen. Maeda left after 4.2 innings having only given up the two hits in the 1st. In the top of the 6th, Tempe went up 4-3 after Albies singled and Ozuna doubled him home. In the bottom of the 6th, Luke Voit got his first hit and first homerun of the series to tie it up 4-4. Tempe continued to leave runners on base (12 total), but the game still remained tied until the top of the 9th . Ozuna drove in his 4th RBI of the game on a solo shot to left field off Zach Britton. Nick Anderson then pitched a perfect 9th for his third save of the series as Detroit only managed four hits in the game.

Tempe 5 – Detroit 4

W – Ryan Sherriff, L – Zach Britton S – Nick Anderson #3

The Tempers bullpen finished 2-0 with 3 saves and only allowed 8 hits in 22 innings. Tempe completely assembled their entire playoff pen in 2021 (28*, 28*, 24*, 23*, 23*, 23*, and 22*) by using five picks in the first five rounds of the 2021 draft and then making two mid-season trades. The future may not be as promising now, but the one year wonders paid off again and again throughout the playoffs.

The co-MVPs for Tempe were Michael Brantley and Marcell Ozuna
Ozuna .500 AVG, .650 OBP, 1.132 SLG and 1.793 OPS. 7 H, 6 BB, 2 HR, 3 2B, 5 R, and 4 RBI
Brantley .444 AVG, .474 OPB, .944 SLG. 1.418 OPS 8 H, 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI 1 BB