Last Monday (August 12th), the Speakers traveled to Lewisberry to close out the first half of the season against the Stars. However, the series highlight turned out to be Manager Kevin’s new hobby: bees.
Bee-sides, neither team could muster much offense. The bats must also have been “hiving” in the Baker backyard.
Game 1 – Clayton Kershaw and a trio of relievers shut out the Speakers, who have runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out in the 1st. Kershaw whiffs both Cody Bellinger and Javy Baez to close the frame.
Jake Marisnick decides hitting with RISP is overrated and homers (11-1) in the 2nd off David Price. That 1-0 score holds up.
No Speaker reaches 3rd base again until the 9th. With two fast runners at 1st and 2nd and no outs, Baez grounds into a 6-4-3 DP. Kris Bryant fouls out to left to smother the mini-threat.
The Speakers out-hit the Stars 6-3. Anthony Rendon (3-4, 3 D) collects half of them.
W – Kershaw; L – Price (0-3); S – Nick Goody
Game 2 – Buster Posey and Rendon both reach with 1 out in the 1st. Bellinger launches a 3-run HR (8) as the Speakers dent the plate for the first time in the series.
Chase Anderson makes that one swing hold up by going the distance and shutting out the Stars, 3-0. The Stars get two on base twice in the middle innings, but Anderson takes away 3 hits and a walk during those frames to preserve the shutout. The Speakers never get another runner past 2nd.
W – Anderson (4-1); L – Quintana
Game 3 – Rendon singles home Mookie Betts following a triple to start the game. The Speakers string together 3 singles and a walk to plate a pair in the 2nd for — (in this series, at least) — a commanding 3-0 early advantage.
With 2 outs and nobody on in the 5th, Brent Suter throws wildly to 1st allowing Greg Bird to reach 2nd base. Ender Inciarte strokes the Stars’ first hit to put his team on the board for the first time in 19+ innings.
Betts’ third hit of the game leaves the yard (6) in the 7th to re-engage the Speakers’ 3-run lead, 4-1. Suter works around two more errors (Posey and Anthony Rizzo) until he gets the first 2 outs of the 9th.
That’s when Inciarte spanks his third hit of the game, a triple. Dustin Pedroia singles home the run to bring the tying run to the plate.
The Speakers lift Suter in favor of Roberto Osuna. Matt Carpenter steps in as a pinch-hitter. Osuna prevents a walk (+43), which would bring the winning run to the plate. Carpenter finally hits a harmless fly ball to left to end the game, 4-2.
W – Suter (1-2); L – Dallas Keuchel; S – Osuna (2)
Afterward, all the buzz was about the Stars scoring just three runs, yet still squeezing a win out the series. The Speakers score in only 4 innings, but it’s good enough to swarm two victories to end the half on a sweet note.