With the two teams nearly neck-and-neck coming down into the final stretch of the 1981 WPK regular season, the Denver Brewers today played host to the surprising and talented Portland Wild Things at Centennial Stadium.
In front of 48,753 fans on a lovely clear night in the mile high city, the Brewers took game 1 of 3 in what is probably the biggest series of the season and a possible make or break moment in the pennant race for both of these teams. It looked to be a great pitching match-up with Denver ace, and reigning MGL Pitcher of the Year,
Jim Atwell dueling against Portland ace and team captain Joe Barbour. In this one
Atwell was victorious, going the distance, giving up 3 runs while scattering 11 hits and striking out 8 batters to get to 196 on the season while not walking a single batter. Barbour, meanwhile, was gone after 4 innings, having allowed 5 earned runs and seeing his ERA rise from 2.41 to 2.56.
The Brewers veteran second baseman
Bobby Erbakan played a big role in the win, not only making several fine defensive plays but also going 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and hitting his 12th homer of the season. With the 2-run bomb
Bobby reached 1,000 RBI in his career, all with the Brewers.
Outfielders
Val Guzman and
Matt Catlett, hitting 1 and 2 in the lineup, each collected a pair of hits, including Guzman hitting his 5th triple and Catlett his 28th double.
The Brewers now have a 1 1/2 game lead over Portland in the MGL West and are finally again mathematically favored to win the division, but certainly can't afford to let off the gas now.
In the MGL East, the Brooklyn Aces (86-67) have a 6 1/2 game lead over their only mathematical rival, the Baltimore Lords (80-74).
Over in the SJL, the El Paso Dawgs (80-74) have won 3 games in a row and have re-taken the lead in the West, 1/2 game over San Antonio (79-74) (in a case of unintentionally wonderful scheduling, the two face off in the final series of the regular season, a 3-game tilt in El Paso).
The Pittsburgh Roadrunners (95-58) have all but wrapped things up in the SJL East, holding an 8 game lead over the Washington Night Train (87-66) with a magic number of 2. With a loss at home against the Night Train, the once mighty Columbus Whalers (84-69) are mathematically eliminated from the race.