This team has the ACE to get through the one game playoff.

The San Antonio Saints and Colorado Gladiators won every TBBL World Series between 2012 and 2017.  So when they met in the AL Wildcard game, they brought a lot of history and prowess into the game.  The Gladiators enjoyed the advantages of playing at home in Coors Field as well as having ace Zack Grienke on the hill against journeyman Brad Peacock.  Both of them were treated roughly in the early innings.

The Saints scored a run in the 1^st when Eric Sogard led off with a triple down the right field line and scored when Josh Bell followed with a ground out.  Colorado answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first.  Ozzie Albies and Justin Turner each singled and moved into position on a wild pitch.  Peacock almost got out of the jam, whiffing Shin Soo Choo and Yuli Gurriel.  But a single by Odubel Herrera gave the Gladiators a 2-1 lead.  It didn’t last long.  After a quick out, Gurriel booted a David Peralta grounder.  Neil Walker’s grounder moved Peralta into scoring position with two outs. Jarrett Parker doubled to tie the game and scored when Eduardo Nunez singled him home. Sogard walked and Bell followed with a two run triple to right center that chased Grienke.  Peacock recorded a shutdown 2^nd inning and the Saints failed to score off Aroldis Chapman in the 3^rd.  But just like an error opened the floodgates for the Saints in the 2^nd, an error doomed Peacock in the 3^rd.  Walker booted an Albies grounder to 2^nd base.  After a ground out, two singles loaded the bases. Peacock struck out Herrera and had Lorenzo Cain down 1-2 before Cain ripped a bases-clearing double that tied the game at 5.  Though Chapman had been effective in the 3^rd, he wasn’t in the 4^th.  Walker doubled to right center to start the inning and scored when Parker singled to left center.  Turner bobbled a Nunez grounder that might have been a double play if handled properly.  Both runners scored when Sogard lined a double to the wall.  Pedro Strop came on to end the uprising with the Saints up 8-5.

Stop me if you have heard this one…Colorado fought back in the bottom of the 4^th.  David Price came out of the San Antonio pen and got a quick out before Albies singled through the left side.  Joaquin Benoit induced a Turner fly out before walking Choo.  Gurriel doubled to left center to knock in both runners, cutting the lead to 8-7.  Benoit intentionally walked Herrera and gave up a single to Cain.  The inning ended without further damage because Parker’s throw nailed Gurriel at home, preserving the lead.  Neither team scored in the 5^th, though the Saints had a pair of runners on with one out.  Giancarlo Stanton provided San Antonio with its last run in the 6^th when he launched a majestic homer deep into the left field bleachers off Will Harris.  David Robertson worked his 2^nd scoreless frame in the bottom of the 6^th and Dellin Betances worked a clean top of the 7^th for the home team.  Robertson gave way to Brock Stewart in the 7^th and Yasiel Puig hammered a solo homer off Stewart to pull Colorado to within a run.  But that was as close as Colorado would get, as Jeff Hoffman worked two thirds of an inning and Felipe Rivero recorded the final four outs for his most important save of the year.

Parker was named the game’s MVP going 3 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI for the Saints.

 “This is a great win for us over a long-time rival,” Parker said after the game.  “Nothing is easy here and our pitchers deserve a ton of credit.  They struck out 11 Gladiators and only allowed three walks.  That is so important because base runners usually score in this place.”

 The Saints will go to Springfield to face the mighty Isotopes.