NALB 2017 World Championship Series - Game 3

K. Fields
2018-10-01T10:26:34-04:00
Baseball

The World Championship Series moved to Vancouver for game 3. The Knights started 30 year old right-hander José Arisa (9-6, 3.54 ERA) and the Wild started 31 year old veteran George Manzo (10-9, 4.16 ERA). Both of these pitchers feature splitters in their pitching arsenals and get a lot of ground balls.

The Knights put a couple of runs on the board in the second inning thanks to consecutive hits by Pescador, Conley, and Leventon. The Wild were unshaken, however. Showing plenty of confidence in front of a supportive home crowd, they scored three runs in the third. Ed Gillum led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run. Marc Keefe scored when Arisa was called for a balk and Darwin Soto drove in Ángel Santago to give Vancouver a 3-2 lead. There was more excitement in the sixth inning as Brooklyn retook the lead. First, Dan Conley scored on an RBI triple by Leventon. Arisa was pulled for pinch hitter Hooks Goetz, who delivered a sac fly to score the runner from third base. The Knights had regained the lead at 4-3. The lead didn’t last long. With Bernard Gastelu on the mound in the bottom of the sixth, Soto led off with a triple. Hideaki Araki followed with a single to tie the game. A Chris Cluff double and Ed Gillum single added another run to make it 5-4 Vancouver. The Knights tied the game again in the seventh with an RBI double from Lariel Gómez. Romeo Usquiano put the Knights ahead for good in the ninth with a solo homer. Pescador drew a bases loaded walk to give Brooklyn an insurance run. Ken Hannah came on to save the game.

It was the 3-hit performance of shortstop Lariel Gómez that led the way for the Brooklyn Knights. Gómez was 3 for 3 with a double, 2 singles, a walk, and was hit by a pitch for the Knights, who now lead the best-of-7 series, 2 games to 1. There were a couple of injuries in the game. Vancouver’s shortstop, Phil Murray, was injured in a collision at second base. Brooklyn’s reliever Bernard Gastelu strained a hamstring while pitching. Both players will be out for the remainder of the WCS.

Final score: Brooklyn 7, Vancouver 5

             1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R  H  E
Brooklyn     0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 2   7 11  0
Vancouver    0 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 0   5 10  0

W: A. Mobley
L: V. West
S: K. Hannah