Fairgrove Dethrones Imps (BoS'14 Playoffs)

The Fairgrove Tigers won their American League Championship Series, 4-1, against the defending BoS World Champions - South Shore Fighting Imps. For a second straight season, the ALCS was a quick series, while the National League is once again dragging out their series as it appears.

Bumgarner was all business, all work horse in the ALCS.

• Game 1  (at Fairgrove); FINAL SCORE: Fairgrove 5, South Shore 1

Two words: Madison Bumgarner; Bumgarner pitches a complete game victory, allowing only 4 hits & 2 walks, while striking out 9 Imps. Paul Goldschmidt & David Freese each hit two-run HR's. The Tigers didn't do much better in the hits department (5 hits).

• Game 2 (at Fairgrove); FINAL SCORE: Fairgrove 2, South Shore 0

Two-run HR in the bottom of the 5th Inning by Tigers' shortstop Jed Lowrie was the difference in this one, the one big mistake by South Shore's starting pitcher Mike Leake, who otherwise had a pretty good outing: 8 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 3 K & BB. Meanwhile, the Tigers' Jarred Cossart was wearing a horse shoe somewhere, allowing 6 walks, but only 3 hits, in 7.1 innings, with 7 K's. 

• Game 3 (at South Shore); FINAL SCORE: Fairgrove 6, South Shore 1

Jed Lowrie strikes again, with his 2nd HR of the series, adding 2 RBI to his total of 6; while C.J. Wilson pitches a solid 8-inning game, allowing 7 hits & 2 walks, but only 1 ER, with 4 K's. South Shore's came up with 9 hits, better than in their previous two ALCS games, which totaled 9 hits. John Lackey couldn't channel in on that playoff magic he has witnessed in the Majors; allowing 3 ER's in 6 innings. 

• Game 4 (at South Shore); FINAL SCORE: South Shore 5, Fairgrove 4

Matt Holliday hits a walk-off single to keep the Fighting Imps' alive, avoiding the sweep. Mat Latos was lousy for the Tigers, allowing 8 hits, 4 walks & 4 runs in 5.2 innings; Tigers bullpen goes 3 scoreless until the winning run, in a good attempt to try to get the Tigers back in this one. The Imps had 6 doubles out of their 11 hits, led by their heart of the order in Ben Zobrist (2 hits & 2 RBI), David Wright (2 hits), Carlos Beltran (3 hits) & Joey Votto (2 hits).

• Game 5 (at South Shore); FINAL SCORE: Fairgrove 2, South Shore 1

Madison Bumgarner bookends the series, with a 7-inning, 4 hit, 1 ER performance in the series finale for 9 K's; Bumgarner went 2-0, with a 0.56 ERA, 18 K's in 16 innings! David Freese hit a two-run double in the top of the 4th for the Tigers, while Matt Holliday went 3-for-4, with a solo HR for South Shore in a losing effort.

FAIRGROVE wins series, 4-1

The Fairgrove Tigers await the winners of the NLCS, Portland currently leads T.C., 3-2 going back to Portland.