Edmonton jumps out to an early 2-0 lead but Nickel City storms back with 5 in the 4th to take a lead they wouldn’t give up for the blowout victory.

Scherzer gives up a HR to Altuve on a deep drive in the first… and that was it for offense for either team as Maeda/Osuna shut down Edmonton’s bats to give Nickel City a commanding 2-0 lead heading back to San Diego.

Edmonton gets out to a 5-0 lead, but Nickel City clawed back forcing me to use Chapman and Miller (who I had been hoping to save for games 4 and 5) to close out the win to avoid going down 3-0.

Pomeranz gives up 2 runs early but settles in and doesn’t give up much else, striking out 13 over his 7 innings as Edmonton evens up the series at 2.

Edmonton felt like they had some momentum on their side after 2 solid wins… and then they ran into Tanaka who throws a CGSO allowing only 3 hits to push the Trappers to the brink of elimination.

I don’t know if I can do this justice, but here it goes. Nickel City was up 2-0 until the bottom of the 7th when I took a bit of a risk that paid off: I PH Schimpf for Cain, but Dave had a lefty up and I was hoping he’d go to him which would allow me to immediately PH Jose Reyes (lefty killer) who Dave would have to either walk or pitch to. It worked out and Reyes hit a 2 run HR to tie the game, at the cost of burning Schimpf (which did cost me later in the game; read on).

In the bottom of the 8th, Lucroy hit a solo HR off of Ziegler to give the Trappers a 3-2 lead. With Miller on the mound, should be safe right? Nope. Ender Inciarte hit a game tying single with 2 outs to tie the game and send it to extras.

Top of the 11th is when shit gets really crazy. First play is a bizarre where Jackie Bradley crashes into the wall for a triple. He’s hurt, I have only Butera on the bench and the game forces me to lose the DH and put belt in the OF (and to add insult to injury – Thornburg would lead off the bottom of the 11th). I’m cursing the game up a storm figuring the bizarre would cost me the boot here. Next play is a bizarre where a dropped third strike could have resulted in a runner reaching first; he’s thrown out but luckily the runner from third does not score. My joy is short lived though as Inciarte (again) doubles to give Nickel City a 5-3 lead that looks like 50-3 from where I’m sitting.

I should note that it is at this point (I believe) that Mike Stockhaus texts Dave and says “Don’t blow it. Congrats”. Remember this in a bit…

Bottom of the 11th. I PH my only bench player, Butera, who’s good against RHP but he’s facing Roberto Osuna who is nails vs RHB. Butera gets a single and Ryan Goins (??) also gets a single to put the tying run on base. Ichiro singles off of buddy boshers to score one run and I’m getting my hopes up here. Otero gets a groundout with the infield in so it’s 2nd/3rd with one out for Belt who gets a deep fly out sac fly to tie the game up. On to the 12th we go.

Bottom of 14th is where we pick it up again as Chapman has kept me in the game to get me to this point, where back to back doubles by Donaldson and Pedroia give Edmonton the improbable win to even the series.

Here we go. This game is a doozy too, overshadowed by game 6 but a classic in its own right. Aaron Sanchez vs John Lackey.  We’re tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the 6th when Ichiro, Cain and Donaldson contribute to 2 runs being scored to give Edmonton a 4-2 lead.  I should note that the rally that lead to those 2 runs was started by an “error” result to the RF, where a 0 was rolled meaning he slipped on a wet field allowing Bogaerts to reach base. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that happen, and it happend in a key spot. Crazy but fitting for this series!

A leadoff HR by Duvall (who was Nickel City’s MVP I’d say with 4 HR) cuts it to 4-3 in the top of the 7th before Thornburg and Andrew Miller shut the door to preserve the 1 run win.