Bouncing back nicely from a tough loss the day before, Portsmouth came out swinging early against Iwakuma. The Brewers drew first blood in the 2nd on an RBI groundout by Mike Napoli, and then added another run in the 3rd on an Alejandro De Aza home run.
Nick Castellanos punished Iwakuma further in the 4th inning. He hit a two-run bomb, making the score 4-0 in favor of Portsmouth through 4 innings.
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| Jason Hammel dominates Fleetwood. |
And then the 7th.
And then the 8th.
This set the stage for drama of the highest order in the bottom of the 9th. The score was 5-0 in favor of Portsmouth, but even the Fleetwood crowd's attention was focused on the chance to see history: what many believe would be the first no-hitter in BRASSball playoff history.
Pinch-hitter Francisco Cervelli led of the 9th against Hammel, but he could manage only a weak infield groundout.
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| Suzuki's 9th inning dive |
Fleetwood's last chance was Seth Smith. Smith and Hammel battled, until Smith finally yanked a hard slicing liner to right field. Ichiro Suzuki laid out for the ball, trying with all his might to preserve history. But the ball landed just beyond his reach and rolled to the wall, allowing Smith to race all the way around to 3rd base with a triple.
Hammel quickly recovered to retire Mike Trout on a game-ending groundout, earning him an impressive one-hit shutout. Hammel may have just missed the no-hitter and a place in BRASSball history, but he put his Portsmouth teammates on his back and gave them valuable momentum heading back home for Game 3.
Final Score: Portsmouth 5, Fleetwood 0.
W: Hammel (1-0). L: Iwakuma (0-1). SV: None. HR: De Aza (1), Castellanos (1).
BOXSCORE: 2015 Portsmouth Brewers At 2015 Fleetwood Walkers 10/10/2015
Brewers AB R H RBI AVG Walkers AB R H RBI AVG
A.De Aza LF 3 1 1 2 .143 S.Smith DH 4 0 1 0 .444
A-C.Maybin CF 0 0 0 0 ---- M.Trout CF 4 0 0 0 .000
D.Pedroia 2B 4 0 0 0 .143 K.Kiermaier RF 3 0 0 0 .286
A.Rizzo 1B 4 0 0 0 .000 M.Cabrera 1B 3 0 0 0 .000
J.Lucroy C 3 1 0 0 .167 D.Norris C 2 0 0 0 .000
M.Saunders RF,LF 4 0 3 0 .429 C.Utley 2B 3 0 0 0 .200
M.Napoli DH 3 1 0 1 .000 D.Wright 3B 3 0 0 0 .000
N.Castellanos 3B 4 1 1 2 .250 J.Segura SS 2 0 0 0 .333
B-S.Rodriguez 3B 0 0 0 0 ---- C-F.Cervelli PH 1 0 0 0 .000
A.Simmons SS 4 1 1 0 .125 D.Jennings LF 2 0 0 0 .000
I.Suzuki CF,RF 3 0 1 0 .333 D-M.Betts PH 1 0 0 0 .500
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 32 5 7 5 Totals 28 0 1 0
A-Subbed Defensively (CF) For De Aza In 9th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (3B) For Castellanos In 9th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Segura In 9th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Jennings In 9th Inning
Brewers......... 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 - 5 7 0
Walkers......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 0
Brewers (1-1) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET
J.Hammel WIN(1-0) 9 1 0 0 1 4 0 0.00 A1
Totals 9 1 0 0 1 4 0
Walkers (1-1) IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA SCORESHEET
H.Iwakuma LOSS(0-1) 6 7 5 5 1 4 2 7.50 A1 C8
J.Broxton 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 C9 D4
A.Bastardo 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0.00 D5 D8
J.Howell 0 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 D9
Totals 9 7 5 5 2 8 2
ATTENDANCE- 48,442 DATE- Saturday, October 10th 2015 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad
UMPIRES- Chuck Meriwether, Bill Welke, Laz Diaz, Tim Welke
T- 2:23
LEFT ON BASE- Brewers: 4 Walkers: 2
DOUBLE PLAYS- Brewers: 0 Walkers: 0
TRIPLES- S.Smith(1st)
HOME RUNS- A.De Aza(1st), N.Castellanos(1st)
RBIs- A.De Aza-2(2nd), M.Napoli(1st), N.Castellanos-2(4th)
SACRIFICE HITS- I.Suzuki
SACRIFICE FLIES- A.De Aza
WALKS- J.Lucroy, M.Napoli, D.Norris
STRIKE OUTS- A.De Aza, D.Pedroia-2, A.Rizzo, M.Saunders, N.Castellanos,
A.Simmons, I.Suzuki, S.Smith, M.Cabrera, D.Wright-2
2-out RBI- N.Castellanos-2
RLISP 2-out- A.Simmons, A.Rizzo, N.Castellanos, M.Trout
TEAM RISP- Brewers: 0 for 8 Walkers: 0 for 1
Jason Hammel carried a no-hitter into the 9th inning as the Portsmouth Brewers
beat the Fleetwood Walkers by a score of 5 to 0.
Hammel(1-0) dominated Fleetwood hitters. He surrendered only 1 hit and 1 walk
in 9 innings. The right-handed Hammel lost his chance for a no-hitter when
Seth Smith tripled with two outs in the 9th inning. Portsmouth had a total
of 7 hits for the game.
Hisashi Iwakuma(0-1) was the loser. He gave up 7 hits and 1 walk in 6
innings. Mike Forsyth was very impressed with his pitcher, Hammel, 'He had
unusually good pitch placement tonight. It was almost unfair - but a
beautiful game to watch from where I sat.'
