We're doing it a bit differently for the final series of the season--TWIWBL will come out each day, focusing on three things:
- The battle between the Birmingham Black Sox and the New York Black Yankees for the final playoff spot.
- Other games between playoff contenders that might determine final seedings for the postseason.
- Any other games or performances of note.
#The Battle for the Final Spot
Philadelphia exploded for 6 runs in the 5th, then held on for dear life to defeat Birmingham, 8-5 for the Black Barons 4th consecutive loss (and the Stars' first win in 11 games).
Scott Rolen,
Bobby Abreu, and
Aaron Judge delivered RBI singles, then
Buck Freeman put the icing on top with his 20th homerun of the year, a 3 run shot to put Philadelphia ahead, 7-0.
Bob Nieman and
Adrián González went deep late to make it close, but it wasn't enough.
PHI 8 (Collins 9-12; Howry 25 Sv) @ BBB 5 (Baker 7-6)
HRs: PHI - Freeman (20); BBB - Nieman (15), González (10).
Box Score
The Black Yankees were unable to take advantage, however, as a pinch hit homerun from
Tris Speaker gave the Spiders a lead they preserved with solid relief efforts from
Stan Bahnsen and
Cory Gearrin, including
Terry Adams picking up his 37th save. This one hurt, as New York scored 4 in the opening inning, and held a 6-4 lead before Speaker's shot.
NYY 7 (Citarella 4-8, 6 B Sv) @ CLE 8 (Bahnsen 1-0; Adams 37 Sv; Gearrin 14 H)
HRs: NYY - Belle 16; Gehrig 26; CLE - Stahl (26), Speaker (4).
Box Score
#Playoff Seeding
The New York Gothams sealed their wild card spot with a walk-off, 4-3 victory over Portland.
Buster Posey delivered the run scoring single in the bottom of the 9th.
Jimmy Sheckard (who led off the game with his 20th homerun),
Pinky Higgins, and
Brian Dozier each had 2 hits for New York. The game also marked
Christy Mathewson's final start of the regular season--despite a solid 5 plus innings, Mathewson was not around for the decision, leaving him on 17 wins for the season.
Detroit scored 10 runs in the 7th and 8th inning on their way to an 11-6 victory over the House of David.
Ty Cobb extended his lead in the batting average race with a 4 hit day,
Ed Bailey and
Olmedo Sáenz added 3 hits each, and
Cecil Fielder hit the first homerun of his career and drove in 4 in the route.
#Other Games
San Francisco eked out a win in 10 innings over Indianapolis, who wasted a strong 7 innings from
Dolf Luque (4 hits, only 1 unearned run). Despite giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 10th,
Rod Beck picked up his 33rd save. The Sea Lions'
Rickey Henderson stole his 96th base, keeping the chase for 100 alive.
Jimmy Wynn hit his 19th homerun of the year, a walk-off blast into the Crawford Boxes as Houston edged Ottawa, 2-1. But the real story of the game was the two starting pitchers, each of whom are coming back from injury. For Houston,
Bones Ely pitched 7 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits while Ottawa saw the long anticipated return of
Roy Halladay, who allowed only 4 hits and 0 runs in 6 innings. Neither were around for the decision, with the win going to
Jay Howell while
Sean O'Sullivan took the loss for the Mounties.
Baltimore went back-to-back-to-back in the 3rd inning with homeruns from
Bryce Harper,
Frank Robinson, and
Curt Blefary in their victory over Kansas City. No real impact on the playoff race, but notable nonetheless.
So we end the day with Baltimore's magic number down to 1 to clinch the
Cum Posey Division and Birmingham's down to 2 for the final playoff spot.