Weekly Top Five: May 18-May 24

No time for introductions this week, let's get straight to the Top Five!

#5: It's Heating Up in the Frozen North

May 22: Montreal 3, Minnesota 6. Minnesota swept Montreal in the teams' first meeting back in April, but Montreal comes into tonight with a 1 1/2 game lead in the Tony La Russa Division. The two northern teams play on a cold and raining evening in Minneapolis. In fact, they love the weather so much that they decide to take things to extra innings.

Masaki Baba

In the top of the 11th inning, with the game tied, 2-2, Montreal rookie Masaki Baba hits a solo home run. Baba, only 21 years old, is an early front-runner for Rookie of the Year: he is hitting .364 with seven home runs and 30 runs batted in.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Bryan Gardner hits a solo home run, his 12th home run of the season. Tied once again, the game continues.

Zach Milford

In the bottom of the 12th, veteran Zach Milford comes to the plate with two aboard. Allen Marshall hangs a curve ball, and Milford swats the ball over the left field fence. The remaining Minnesota fans, chilly and damp, warm themselves up by celebrating a walk-off win!

#4: Michigan Comeback

May 23: New York 6, Ann Arbor 7. New York takes a lead, 6-3, into the bottom of the eighth. Reliever Sixto Lavio, an All-Star last season, retires the first two batters and quickly gets two strikes on Michael Frost.

And that's when the Barn Owls swoop.

Brooks Davis

Frost hits a solo home run (his ninth of the year). The next batter, Lloyd Christopher, doubles. Javier Solís relieves Lavio, and he walks Rafael Romero. Lefty Bartolo Nava comes in to face the lefty Brooks Davis, but Davis pokes Nava's first pitch over the wall—just barely—in right field. The three-run homer gives Ann Arbor the lead, 7-6.

Ben Hayes closes out the ninth to earn his 10th save of the season.

#3: See-Saw Battle in San Francisco

May 19: Boston 7, San Francisco 8. Fans at Golden Gate Park get their money worth today as they get to enjoy a back-and-forth game with lots of late-inning runs. The game begins with a single, a triple, and a wild pitch that combine to give Boston the early lead, 2-0. Quake catcher Artie Sanders gains one of those runs back with a solo home run in the fourth.

The real action begins in the bottom of the seventh. San Francisco's Bill Watson hits a two-run home run, and Austin McCabe hits a solo home run. The Quakes take the lead, 4-2.

In the top of the eighth, a double and an error score one run. José González then hits a two-run home run. Boston regains the lead, 5-4.

In the bottom of the eighth, Tom Klein doubles in Ernie McCoy to tie the game, and McCabe singles in Sanders and Klein. San Francisco regains the lead, 7-5.

In the top of the ninth with two outs, Alex Austin hits a two-run homer to tie the game, 7-7.

Finally, in the bottom of the ninth, Klein comes to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. He hits a fly ball to left. Pinch-runner Johnny Hudson, who's as speedy as the come, trots home easily. Golden Gate Park explodes in celebration as the Quakes get the walk-off win.

#2: Up and Down Week for the Hops

The San Diego Hops only won three of seven this week, but they played in several note-worthy games.

May 18: San Diego 1, Dallas 12. The Texans score 11 runs in the second inning. The inning features five singles, a double, five walks, two stolen bases, an error, a wild pitch, and a passed ball. Bodil Larsen's bases-loaded double provides the inning's biggest blow.

Miguel Angel
Ortíz

May 19: San Diego 3, Dallas 0. Mario Vázquez goes hitless in five at-bats, snapping his hitting streak at 20 games, but the Hops win. Mike Joyce (3-3) and two relievers combine to shut out the Texans. Two Texan errors lead to two Hops runs. Miguel Angel Ortíz singles in the third run. Ortíz is having another strong season: his two hits today raise his batting average to .372.

Rafael López

May 21: San Diego 2, Dallas 3. Texan starter Rafael López pitches eight shutout innings: he allows only two hits and one walk while striking out eight. He has to settle for a no-decision, as the normally reliable Alex Martin blows the save. Martin retires the first two batters, but a walk and back-to-back doubles from Ortíz and Dorian Knight tie the game, 2-2. The Texans win the game one inning later when Luis García singles in Jesse Clark.

Bryan Caldwell

May 22: San Diego 7, Washington 1. Bryan Caldwell goes 3-for-5 with a pair of two-run homers and five ribbies. He leads the Hops with 10 home runs this season. Knuckleballer Dave Lee (4-4) pitches a complete game, allowing just one run on five hits.

May 23: San Diego 0, Washington 1. The pitching staffs work their way out of trouble, inning after inning, and despite allowing a combined 16 hits, the game goes into the bottom of the ninth a scoreless tie. Two final hits win the game for the Capitalists: Dallas Crowley triples, and Joe Leftwich singles him in.

#1: Cabo Wins 12 Straight

Hideyori
Kiyomizu

The Toreros are red hot! This week, they sweep four from Maple and three from Georgia: they have now won 12 straight, and their 35-9 record is seven games better than any other team in the ABL. Hideyori Kiyomizu wins Batter of the Week for the second time this season: he leads the ABL with a 1.182 OPS and 43 runs, and he is tied for the lead in home runs with 15.

Two of their victories were particularly exciting.

May 21: Maple 6, Cabo San Lucas 7. In the final game of their series, the Marauders take a lead, 6-3, into the late innings, but boring Dan Smith comes to the rescue. In the seventh, he doubles in a pair of runs. In the ninth, with two outs and Dave Carlisle on first, he doubles in the tying run. Raymond Moor then singles him in, and Cabo gets a walk-off win.

Maple, meanwhile, suffers their seventh consecutive loss: they go on to drop the next two in Jersey before finally snapping their losing streak at nine with a win over the Jesters. The three-time Martin Division winners now have an 18-27 record and occupy the last place.

Raymond Moor

May 22: Georgia 11, Cabo San Lucas 14. It's a slugfest at the Field of Los Layendas. The Toreros score five in the first: Kiyomizu doubles with the bases loaded, clearing them all. Moor follows by doubling in Kiyomizu. In the second, Moor doubles in another pair.

The Grays hang tough. In the sixth, they score five and take the lead, 10-8: Tommy McCauley caps the inning with a three-run home run.

Moor provides the late heroics. He singles in one run in the bottom of the seventh, and he hits a three-run homer in the eighth. Moor goes 4-for-5 with seven runs batted in, leading the Toreros to a victory over their division rival.