ABERDEEN, WA. (GPS)--Bainbridge Island scored five runs in the top of the tenth inning October 15, helped by a huge Aberdeen miscue, and the B's defeated the A's 8-3 to take a two-games-to-one lead in their best-of-seven A to Z League playoff series.
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| George Brett's three- run triple in the tenth broke open the game for Bainbridge Island. |
Bainbridge Island got all three of its runs against Arrieta in the fourth. With one out Jeff Bagwell walked and George Brett was hit by a pitch. Arrieta then struck out Carlos Beltran, but Bobby Bonds came through with a two-out double to plate both runners and even the score. Bonds came in on a base hit by Ernie Banks and Bainbridge Island had the lead 3-2. Aberdeen logged an unearned run thanks to an error by Bunning in the bottom of the fourth, and the game was knotted at 3-3.
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| Dick Allen's costly error kept a Bainbridge rally alive in the tenth inning. |
That brought Brett to the plate. With Abernathy already having thrown 29 pitches and a lefty at bat, skipper Sparky Anderson brought in southpaw Johnny Antonelli to face Brett. It didn't work. Brett drilled Antonelli's first pitch just inside the first base bag; by the time the dust had cleared Brett was standing on third with a triple and three runs had scored, giving the Bees a 6-3 lead. Beltran followed with a homer to deep left to make it 8-3.
Heath Bell pitched the bottom of the inning and struck out three batters, allowing a one-out single to Moises Alou in the midst of it all. Bainbridge Island recaptured the home-field advantage and a 2-1 lead in the series with the victory, though we note that the visiting team has won two of the three games so far.
Both managers have some interesting decisions to make about their starting pitchers for the next couple of games. Anderson, down in the series, is contemplating bringing back his ace, Pete Alexander, on short rest for game four. Alexander went 19-3 during the regular season, but took the loss in a poor outing in the series opener. Anderson's other options would be Kevin Appier, 10-12, 3.40 during the regular season, or Antonelli, 12-10 and 3.50, though he didn't have such a great audition today. Bainbridge Island manager Lou Boudreau has a similar choice to make. He could bring back game one starter Bert Blyleven on short rest, but with a lead in the series he's leaning toward Tommy Bridges for game four.
Game three box score, October 15
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP
Bainbridge Island 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 8 9 1 5 1
Aberdeen 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 2 3 1
B's AB R H BI AVG A's AB R H BI AVG
Biggio 2b 5 0 0 0 .273 Alomar,R 2b 4 1 1 0 .231
Berra,Y c 3 0 1 0 .300 Appling ss 4 0 0 0 .167
Bench ph 1 1 0 0 .500 Aaron,H rf 3 0 0 1 .250
Bonds,Ba lf 5 1 2 0 .455 Allen,D 3b 4 2 1 1 .364
Bagwell 1b 4 2 1 0 .182 Abreu,B lf 4 0 0 0 .182
Brett,G 3b 4 2 1 3 .200 Adcock,J 1b 4 0 2 1 .462
Beltran,C cf 5 1 2 2 .400 Averill cf 3 0 1 0 .429
Bell,H p 0 0 0 0 .000 Abernathy p 0 0 0 0 .000
Bonds,Bo rf 5 1 1 2 .077 Antonelli,J p 0 0 0 0 .000
Banks,E ss 1 0 1 1 .125 Andersen p 0 0 0 0 .000
Boggs,W ph 1 0 0 0 .333 Alou,Mo ph 1 0 1 0 1.000
Boudreau ss 1 0 0 0 .000 Ashby,Al c 3 0 0 0 .000
Bunning p 3 0 0 0 .000 Allison ph 1 0 0 0 .000
Benitez p 0 0 0 0 .000 Arrieta p 2 0 0 0 .000
Bishop ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Aguirre p 0 0 0 0 .000
Bell,CP cf 0 0 0 0 .222 Ashburn ph 2 0 0 0 .000
39 8 9 8 35 3 6 3
B's INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Bunning 7.0 5 3 2 0 4 82 51 2.57
Benitez W 1-0 2.0 0 0 0 0 1 28 19 0.00
Bell,H 1.0 1 0 0 0 3 17 11 4.50
10.0 6 3 2 0 8 127 81
A's INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Arrieta 7.0 5 3 3 2 9 115 76 3.86
Aguirre 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 13 8 4.50
Abernathy L 0-1 1.2 1 3 0 1 2 29 19 0.00
Antonelli,J 0.0 2 2 2 0 0 3 3 99.00
Andersen 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0.00
10.0 9 8 5 3 11 162 108
BI : Boggs,W batted for Banks,E in the 7th
Boudreau inserted at ss in the 7th
Bench batted for Berra,Y in the 8th
Bench moved to c in the 8th
Bishop batted for Benitez in the 10th
Bell,CP inserted at cf in the 10th
ADN: Ashburn batted for Aguirre in the 8th
Ashburn moved to cf in the 9th
Alou,Mo batted for Andersen in the 10th
Allison batted for Ashby,Al in the 10th
E-Bunning, Allen,D, Abreu,B. 2B-Bonds,Bo(1). 3B-Brett,G(1), Alomar,R(1).
HR-Beltran,C(1), Allen,D(2). RBI-Brett,G 3(5), Beltran,C 2(2), Bonds,Bo 2(3),
Banks,E(1), Aaron,H(2), Allen,D(4), Adcock,J(6). SB-Beltran,C(1), Banks,E(1).
K-Bonds,Ba, Bagwell, Brett,G, Beltran,C 2, Bonds,Bo, Bunning 2, Boggs,W,
Boudreau, Bishop, Allen,D 2, Abreu,B 2, Adcock,J, Arrieta, Ashburn, Allison.
BB-Bagwell, Banks,E, Bench. SF-Aaron,H. HBP-Brett,G. HB-Arrieta.
GWRBI: Brett,G