The Athletics moved into Monday night’s American League
championship game of the Mustang Division by scoring a 10-4 win
over the Angels in the semifinals Saturday, two days after winning
a 2-1 thriller over the Indians.
The Athletics moved into Monday night’s American League championship game of the Mustang Division by scoring a 10-4 win over the Angels in the semifinals Saturday, two days after winning a 2-1 thriller over the Indians.
In the win over the Indians, the A’s broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning.
Nick Giordano singled and Blake Porzio was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. With two outs, Cole Griffin delivered a clutch single to score both runners for a 2-0 lead.
The Indians cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth and only great defense by the A’s prevented them from tying the game. Giordano fired a great throw from the outfield and Jack Benazzo applied the tag to gun down an Indians runner at home and keep the A’s on top 2-1.
In the fifth inning, the Indians again threatened as they loaded the bases with one out. Porzio came in to pitch for the A’s and struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
The Indians put a runner on third in the sixth inning, but Porzio struck out the side and stranded that runner to end the game.
The A’s got their bats going in the win over the Angels and pounded out nine hits to score their 10 runs.
Giordano, Bradley Higgins and Blake Porzio combined to fire a two-hitter for the A’s.
The A’s held only a 3-2 lead entering the fourth, but that’s when they broke the game open. They scored twice in the fourth and four more times in the fifth to cruise to the win.
Porzio had three hits in the game and Giordano had two. Sam Kennedy delivered a two-run single and Matt Lombardo also had a two-run single.
Giordano, Jack Benazzo and Jackson Davis each crossed the plate twice for the A’s as they moved into the league title game, with Monday’s winner advancing to the city championships on Saturday.
Bronco Division
The visiting Angels beat the White Sox 9-5 on Saturday afternoon to advance to the American League championship in the Bronco Division.
The Angels scored first, putting up one run in the first inning on a walk to Nelson Pyle. He stole second and scored on a double by John Forestieri. But the White Sox got out of the inning on a double play when center fielder Isaiah Campos caught a fly ball and relayed to shortstop Chase Chadband before the Angels’ runner on second base could tag up.
The White Sox tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a single by Chadband, who stole second, took third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Dominic Bejarano.
The White Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the third on singles by Chadband, Bejarano, Jordan Dexter and Austin Rutledge to take a 4-1 lead.
The Angels loaded the bases with only one out in the fourth inning on singles from Forestieri and Howard and Mitchell Pasek was hit by a pitch. But a strikeout by White Sox pitcher Bejarano and a grounder to shortstop Dexter ended the inning with no runs scoring.
The Angels stormed back to regain the lead in the fifth inning. Logan Hensley walked, Conor Havstad singled and Pyle singled home Hensley to make it 4-2.
Forestieri then delivered a three-run home run to deep right field to give the Angels a 5-4 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the White Sox tied it up in the bottom of the fifth when Bejarano knocked out a solo home run.
In the top of the seventh, the Angels finally took the lead for good as they pounded out four runs. Pyle and Pasek both doubled in the inning and Havstad, Forestieri, Jim Hagan and Michael Dukes all singled in the rally.
The White Sox couldn’t manage another rally in the seventh and the Angels moved onto to face the A’s in Monday’s AL Championship game.
Send any youth reports to sp****@*************es.com or jd*****@*************es.com
