Around the ABL: September 7-13

Pitching duels, two sluggers hitting their 50th home run, and Greenville defying the odds with an incredible comeback. Let's get to it!

September 7: Boston 2, Los Angeles 1. Empire's Kent Rose (7-7) allows one run over nine innings, but Cardinals pitchers match him. The game goes into the 11th inning when George White singles with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run. Red-hot Boston becomes the first team to win 90 games.

Dennis Woods

September 7: Cabos San Lucas 5, Jacksonville 6. Cabo's Dan Smith hits a single, triple, and a three-run home run. Jacksonville's Dennis Woods doubles with the bases loaded in the sixth, then doubles and scores in the bottom of the ninth. Roberto Sosa provides the game-winning single that drives Woods home.

September 7: Greenville 7, San Diego 9. Dorian Knight wins the game for the Tomcats by hitting a walk-off grand slam.

September 8: Montreal 7, Minnesota 8. Down by two in the bottom of the eighth, Roderick Gray lines a three-run homer. Since being traded from Eureka, Ed Gillespie (7-9) has started eight games but has yet to earn a win.

September 9: Ann Arbor 1, Nottinghamshire 0. Jim Thompson (10-9) and Diego Avilés (4-12) hook up in a pitchers' duel. Thompson goes 7 2/3 innings, striking out eight while allowing three hits and two walks. Avilés goes 8 2/3 innings allowing one hit and three walks. The game remains scoreless until Michael Frost leads off the top of the 11th with a solo home run.

Lorenzo
Rodríguez

September 10: Ann Arbor 6, New York 5. Lorenzo Rodríguez hits a 518-foot home run to right, becoming the first player to hit 50. The Mafia score five in the third behind a three-run homer by Marvin Bowman and a solo shot by Jorge Mora. The Barn Owls piece together a comeback. Héctor Ramirez homers, and Rafael Romero scores on a Rubén Ruíz sac fly. Ann Arbor takes two of three from New York, and now sit 1 1/2 games behind Dallas in the Lasorda.

September 12: Boston 2, Jacksonville 3. Jamie Perkins (3-7) matches Norm Jackson (20-5) as each starter allows two runs over eight innings. In the 10th, Carl Faulkner doubles, and Jorge Valdéz doubles him in for the win. The Jacks hand the Cardinals a rare loss.

Jim Brady

September 12: Greenville 0, Minnesota 10. Jim Brady (14-7) pitches eight innings of shutout baseball, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out five. The Berserkers mash five home runs, including a three-run shot by Peter Blanchard in the third, and cruise to victory.

Tom Becker

September 12: Montreal 21, San Diego 0. Tom Becker hits a pair of three-run homers and doubles with the bases loaded, setting an ABL record by driving in nine runs. The two home runs give him 50 on the season, and he is now tied with Lorenzo Rodríguez for the ABL lead. The nine RBIs give him an incredible 174 on the season. Could he reach 200?

Merrill Harris

September 13: Greenville 10, Minnesota 8. Roderick Gray, Marvin Welch, and Bryan Gardner homer for the Berserkers in the third, and the division leaders take a six-run lead into the ninth. But the 84's rally. The first four batters single, and one run scores. Closer Roy Cole comes in to pitch. He walks in a run. Then he walks in another. The score is now 8-5, the bases are loaded, and Merrill Harris comes to the plate. The veteran leadoff hitter pulls a long fly ball that ... just clears the right-field wall (good thing he ate that extra biscuit for breakfast). The grand slam puts the 84's ahead. They end up scoring eight runs in the ninth inning, leaving the Minnesota crowd in a stunned silence.