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| Ray Stevens |
October 2: Los Angeles 3, Las Vegas 8. The hype coming into the game was the pitching duel:
Evan Warner vs.
Maurice Gould. The story coming out of the game, however, was the Joker lineup, which ground out at-bat after at-bat, wearing down the vaunted pitchers of
Los Angeles, and leading the Jokers to a game one victory in their best-of-seven series.
Las Vegas took the lead early.
Ray Stevens led off the second with a home run, but that was the only Joker run that came via the long ball.
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| Kevin Carey |
The rest of the Joker runs came via tenacity—working walks and stringing together singles. In the third, three singles load the bases:
Colin St John works a walk to force in one run, and Stevens hits a sac fly to score another. In the fourth, a pair of walks and a single from
Kevin Carey score a run. In the seventh, a walk and two singles score one run, and a bases-loaded walk to
Carlos Ruíz scores another. In the eighth, a single and two walks load the bases, and a Phillip Smith single drives in two runs.
Las Vegas had the best offense in the Munson League this season, but they were less a team of sluggers than a team of grinders. Their 169 home runs ranked fourth in the league (behind
Jersey,
South Carolina, and
Kansas City), but they ranked first in walks and on-base percentage.
The Joker lineup wore down Warner, who threw 124 pitches over six innings of work. He gave up five runs while striking out six.
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| Maurice Gould |
Maurice Gould was not at his best, but even a lesser performance from Gould is impressive. Doughboy struck out 10 and scattered eight hits over eight innings of work. He allowed three runs, all via the long ball.
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| Sean Bowman |
Los Angeles never led, but they kept things close for much of the game.
Sean Bowman hit a surprise in the fourth—a two-run shot to deep right-center. A defensive specialist, center fielder Bowman hit only two home runs in 271 at-bats this season.
Tommy Harris added a solo home run in the sixth.
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