Saturday the Wahoos made their way to S’ville for a series between the league’s newest teams.
Game 1 pitted Gallardo against Bauer. The Wahoos jumped Gallardo early with a 2-run job in the first from Arenado. The Browns got one back with a solo shot leading off the 2nd by Kyle Seager. It stayed 2-1 Wahoos until the Browns batted around in the 5th plating 3 runs, but leaving the bases loaded when Dyson grounded out to end the inning. Abreu homered in the bottom of the 5th off Gallardo to make it 4-3 before the bull pens took over in the 7th, 8th and 9th for both clubs. The Browns improved to 6-11 while the Wahoos fell to 1-4.
Game 2 featured Kershaw and Cole but the expected pitchers’ duel didn’t really eventuate. Arenado tagged Kershaw for another 1st inning 2-run homer followed by doubles from Dozier and Martin in the 2nd and the Wahoos staked Cole to an early 3-0 lead. The Browns took the lead in the 4th by loading the bases for Salvy Perez who smacked a 2-out grand slam to go ahead 4-3. From that point on both pitchers settled in and only allowed 3 hits each on the way to complete games. The Sharts 4-3 victory was their 3rd in a row marking their first winning streak.
Game 3 was the Corey Kluber show. The Browns wasted back-to-back-to-back singles in the 3rd and never bothered Kluber again en route to a 4-0 loss. Kluber posted a complete game, 8-hit shutout and struck out 14 Browns along the way. The Tribe got all the scoring they needed in the 4th, kicked off once again by an Arenado dinger. The inning continued with a Will Myers walk and Blanco getting on by a Hairpin error before being plated on a sac fly by Crawford to push the lead to 2-0. Dozier got the Wahoos to the magic number of 4 runs with a 2-run HR to wrap up the 4th, and the game.
Game 4 saw the Wahoos momentum continue right out of the gate as the first 3 batters walked to load the bases for that man again. Once again Arenado was responsible for the first run of the game, but this time it was via a 4-6-3 double play vs. Strasburg. That would prove to be the only run the Tribe needed as A.J. Burnett took control. Yeah, you read that right. A.J. Burnett. The crafty vet went the distance allowing only 3 hits and managing to pitch around 5 walks to take the win. The Wahoos smacked the ball around using two doubles and two triples to pad their lead and end up winning 4-0 to go to 3-5. The Browns dropped to 7-13.
Bryce Harper sat out game 4 after taking the golden sombrero in game 3 and will reportedly be suspended by the club for the series against the Tsunamis next Saturday. Manager Anthony Champa took this drastic measure after Harper behaved like a little bitch in the locker room upon finding out he was getting the day off vs. Burnett. Following the suspension he will be eligible to play all the Browns remaining games, however.