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| The Fighting Tigers' Jose Altuve (left) and Marwin Gonzalez (right). |
The Traverse City Fighting Tigers host their first opponent of the new 2019 UAL Season. The team is coming off a 102-win season in 2018, but are preparing for a long season in 2019. Traverse City will face the Port Huron Prowlers (renamed, formerly the Michigan Jack Hammers).
On the exception of two months, UAL owners play 15 home games per month, while they give instructions to the other owners for their 15 road games. The other two months, December and March (I believe) we play 10 home, 10 road.
So here is the home series between the two ballclubs...
Game 1
On the mound:
Port Huron: Daniel Norris (Grade D-Y)
Traverse City: Jon Gray (Grade C-YZ)
The first 4 innings went scoreless with a pitcher's duel breaking out. Jon Gray struck out the side during the top of the 4th, striking out Javier Baez, Giancarlo Stanton & Renato Nunez.
Top of the 5th - Another shutout inning by Gray, while striking out his 6th batter.
Bottom of the 5th - Traverse City's Marwin Gonzalez leads off with a double off Norris. Kelby Tomlinson breaks the silence, by scoring the game's 1st run, a RBI single, making it 1-0. Lewis Brinson hits into a fielder's choice for out number two. Jean Segura hits a single to right, advancing Brinson to third. Jose Altuve comes up big with RBI double, while Buster Posey followed with an RBI single (to drive in Altuve). A 4-run inning by the Fighting Tigers.
Top of the 6th - The Prowlers' Trea Turner hits a single, then steals second. Baez drives in Turner for the Prowlers' 1st run of the game; Baez steals second. Stanton strikes out, while Nunez draws a two-out walk, but Eric Hosmer leaves the two runners stranded as he strikes out.
The Fighting Tigers' Gray would go on to pitch 8 strong innings, allowing 8 hits, while only allowing 1 run & 1 walk -- striking out 11 Prowlers in the process. Ken Giles comes in for the save, while Traverse City wins its home opener.
Game 2
On the mound:
Port Huron: Eric Lauer (Grade C)
Traverse City: Jack Flaherty (Grade B-X)
Both starting pitchers got the distance, with both pitchers only allowing 1 hit each through 5 innings. By the end of this game, Lauer would advance from a Grade C to Grade A, while Flaherty advanced from a Grade B-X to Grade A-X.
Top of the 9th - Pablo Sandoval leads the inning off with a home run, Mallex Smith would later hit a two-out single, setting up Trea Turner's RBI double.
The two runs would prove to be the winner for the Prowlers, while Eric Lauer was nearly untouchable, finishing the game with a one-hit shutout, allowing no walks, while striking out 6 -- if it were not for Gerardo Parra's double with one out in the 5th, Lauer would have pitched a perfect game.
Flaherty recorded 10 strikeouts in his complete game loss, allowing 7 hits, 2 runs & 3 walks.
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| Lauer pitches a gem, allowing only 1 base runner the entire game. |
Game 3
On the mound:
Port Huron: Antonio Senzatela (Grade C)
Traverse City: Rich Hill (Grade C-XZ - Advanced to Grade A-XZ)
Apparently, the Fighting Tigers were saving all the hits for Game 3 of the series. Port Huron's pitchers had no answers for the Tigers, as they got blasted for 17 runs & 24 hits!
The biggest surprise bat came from the Tigers' Gorkys Hernandez, who batted a perfect 5-for-5, with 2 singles, 2 doubles & a Grand Slam, which led to 6 RBI; Hernandez also scored 3 runs.
Meanwhile Port Huron would only be able to muster up 3 hits against Hill, while Hill shut them out, allowing 2 walks, while logging 13 strikeouts.
The Prowlers' starter Senzatela allowed 12 hits & 8 runs through 5 innings, while his relief, Justin Anderson was worse, allowing 12 hits & 9 runs in only 3 innings. Anderson allowed the Grand Slam to Hernandez.
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| Big night for Gorkys: 5-5 with Grand Slam & 6 RBI. |
Game 4
On the mound:
Port Huron: Michael Fulmer (Grade D - Advanced to Grade B)
Traverse City: Jeff Samardzija (Grade D-W)
After a 3-2 Port Huron lead after the 2nd inning, with both teams already recording 11 hits combined, it appeared that the game was going to become an offensive onslaught, but then the pitching took over. Fulmer would go on to pitch 6 shutout innings following the 2nd inning, while Jeff Samardzija was not as lucky.
Giancarlo Stanton would hit a 5th inning solo HR off Samardzija to make it a 4-2 Prowlers lead. Samardzija would find himself in trouble in the 7th inning, T.C. goes to the pen for reliever Dan Otero, who allows a two-run double to Javier Baez to give Port Huron a comfortable, 6-2 lead.
Fulmer would allow his 3rd run in the 9th, off a RBI single by Kelby Tomlinson, his 4th hit & 2nd RBI of the game. Fulmer finished with a complete game victory, while collecting 5 K and allowing 10 hits & 2 walks; 6 of his 12 hits came in the first 2 innings.
Pablo Sandoval's 2nd inning home run makes it 2 HR for the season, while Baez had 2 doubles & 3 RBI.
Series even 2-2.
Game 5
On the mound:
Port Huron: Daniel Norris (Grade D-Y)
Traverse City: Josh Tomlin (Grade D-Z)
Top of the 1st - Traverse City's first baseman Justin Bour hits his 1st HR of the season.
Top of the 4th - Pablo Sandoval hits a two-run double, followed by RBI double by Jason Heyward & RBI triple by Mallex Smith.
Top of the 6th - Trea Turner adds RBI single, giving the Prowlers a 5-1 lead. Turner had 3 hits for the day, including a 8th inning triple, which led to another run.
Bottom of the 8th - Traverse City trims the lead down to 2 runs, trailing 6-4, thanks to Ehire Adrianza's two-run homer off of Daniel Norris, which ended his night.
Sandoval & Heyward add RBI singles in the 9th off of Austin Gomber to give Port Huron extra insurance & ultimately the victory, 8-4.
Port Huron wins the series, 3-2.
It may not have been pretty, but Norris earns the victory, allowing 9 hits, 4 earned runs & 4 walks, through 7.1 innings. T.C's Tomlin was credited with the loss, allowing 10 hits, 4 earned runs & 3 walks through 7 innings. Alex Colome earned the 1.2 inning save, striking out 2 batters, while allowing only 1 hit.
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| Panda Sighting: Pablo helps Port Huron win their series, 3-2. |
