MAVS SNAG GAME 1
Medicine Hat takes first game of best-of-five first-round series with help from crazy play
Medicine Hat Mavericks players congratulate Nolan Rattai (1) after he scored against the Lethbridge Bulls Tuesday in the first game of the playoffs at Athletic Park. The league-leading Mavs picked up where the regular season left off, picking up a 5-2 Game 1 win.
Jordan Dray knew it was do or die.
With two Lethbride Bulls in scoring position and one out in the sixth inning Tuesday, Jaret Semeniuk laced an Alex Dafoe offering to far right field.
With the Medicine Hat Mavericks hanging on to a 3-2 lead, Dray had to make a snap decision: Go for it, or let it drop and hope to throw the second runner out at home.
He chose the former, and what happened next changed the tone of Game 1 of the teams’ best-offive Western Major Baseball League first-round playoff series.
“In that situation you’re just trying to make a play for the pitcher,” said Dray, who snagged the drive just before it hit the ground. “He’s working hard for you and you just find a way to get that ball in your glove.”
Blake MacDonald was on third base and ran home well ahead of Dray’s throw, presumably tying the game. But the Mavs appealed that he’d left his bag before the catch was made. The umpiring crew agreed. Instead of at least a tie game, the inning was over. “I was pretty pumped when he caught it,” said Dafoe, who found out he’d get the start late Monday due to a minor injury to Matt Brooks. “It was something else, it was awesome.”
Medicine Hat went on to a 5-2 win before a crowd of 1,129 fans at Athletic Park.
“That was the biggest play of the game,” said Bulls head coach Jesse Sawyer, who argued to no avail. “If he doesn’t get called out there it’s 3-3, we’ve got a chance to take the lead.
“That’s baseball. We have to do everything well to beat that team.”
The teams play Game 2 Wednesday in the Hat, with Game 3 Thursday (and potentially Game 4 Friday) in Lethbridge. If a fifth game is needed it’ll be played Saturday back at Athletic Park.
Given that Medicine Hat won all six regular season games between the teams, the Bulls could’ve taken some solace in keeping this one close. Jesse Hilyard led off the second inning with a home run, Dustin Braun hit one of his own in the fourth, but it’s the runs they didn’t score that will hurt.
“It’s a battle every time we play them, especially in the playoffs,” said Sawyer. “We’re going to come in tomorrow, try to get that split and take it back home, see what we can do.”
David Salgueiro led off Medicine Hat’s first inning with a home run, Louie Canjura and Jaxson Hooge hit RBI singles in the fourth and Canjura doubled and scored on the heels of the wild double play to give starting pitcher Alex Dafoe some breathing room. Dafoe went six innings, striking out seven and letting up seven hits. Barry Caine didn’t allow a hit in two innings, then Tyler Shumpert got the save in the ninth, stranding two runners who reached on an error and a walk.
Salgueiro finished 2-for-3, adding an eighth-inning double that led to Carson Johnson plating Jaxson Hooge with a sacrifice fly.
For Lethbridge, left-hander Andrew Grieder lasted four innings in taking the loss.
The Bulls will go with Luc Hebert in Game 2 against Matt Brooks for the Mavericks.