By Johnny Blondo May 5, 2019
The Spiky Dudes swept the season series against the Garveys with a thrilling 11th inning victory last night. It was a pitching duel for the first 7 innings with Tseng pitching 5 scoreless innings topped by Chirinos with 6 scoreless frames for the Garveys. In the 8th the Garveys finally broke through when Bour pounded a triple into deep right scoring Garver and Arenado, who was intentionally walked. The Spiky Dudes tied in the bottom of the frame with a 2-run smash by Adam Jones off reliever AJ Ramos.
The Spiky Dudes bullpen was solid, striking out 8 from the 7th inning on. Joey Votto led off the 11th inning with a triple, prompting the Garveys to replace AJ Ramos who had pitched well over his normal pitch count having come on in relief in the 8th inning. The first pitch from Trevor Williams was popped into shallow left field. To Fowler’s surprise (he has a very good arm) Votto tagged up on the play attempting to score. Fowler fired a laser that was on its way to home when third baseman Nolan Arenado dove in front of the throw obstructing Garver’s view. Garver mishandled the ball and Votto was safe giving the Dudes the late-inning win.
After the game Arenado explained he wanted Votto the think he was going to cut off the throw from Fowler, but declined to comment as to what he thought that would accomplish. A Gatorade-soaked Votto told us “Jimmy (third base coach) told me to stay, but I went anyway, he was livid and yelling at me to come back…I was dead meat without Nolan’s help”. The only comment from Garver was “It was a perfect throw.”
The Spiky Dudes who are now over .500 meet the 2 and 3 Stank Hams next while the Garveys play the Need Chickens at home in a must-win game for both teams.
Johnny Blondo has been a reporter for BatBreaker since 2018.