10/4/2018 Season 3 ALL-STAR GAME RECAP Tim Teufel drove in 5 runs and earned MVP honors for the victorious East-MidWest All-Stars
The South-Pacific stars actually outhit their East-Midwest foes 12-11, but couldn't complete the comeback and now trail the all-time series 2-1.
Ruben Gomez set an early tone for the East-Midwesterners by retiring the first 3 batters of the game. The bottom half of the inning started out similarly, as Pete Redfern got Kessinger and Lacy to fly out before the wheels came off. Redfern plunked Jim King in the shoulder, and then gave up back to back singles to Pat Putnam and Milt May before Tim Teufel ripped a bases-clearing triple into the left field corner. Ken Harrelson followed Teufel by launching a 2-run homer to straight-away centerfield to give the East-Midwest stars a commanding 5-0 lead.
The pitchers took over for both sides for the next few innings, as Gomez again retired the side in the 2nd, followed by another three-up, three-down inning by rookie Vinegar Bend Mizell. South-Pacific wouldn't even get their first hit of the game until the 4th inning on a lone single by Ron Stone off of John Denny. But Denny would get Earl Williams to fly out to deep centerfield to end the threat.
Meanwhile the South-Pacific pitchers fared much better in the early innings after Redfern's rocky first inning. Tom Phoebus came in to pitch the 2nd and 3rd innings and retired six of the seven batters he faced, including striking out three. Doyle Alexander gave up a walk and a hit but escaped the bottom of the 4th without yielding a run.
In the top of the 5th, the South-Pacific bats finally got on the board against Steve Hargan as Dean Palmer went deep into the left-centerfield bleachers. But the East-Midwest stars answered back in the bottom of the 5th with two runs of their own. Jim Nash plunked Jim King in the same shoulder, causing a stir on both benches, but wiser heads prevailed. Nash then walked Putnam; but after inducing Milt May to ground out, he gave up a 2-run double to Teufel, giving the Metropolis Meteor five RBIs on the night and eventually earning him the game's MVP honors.
With the score now 7-1, it looked like the East-Midwest stars could coast the rest of the way, but it wouldn't be quite that simple as the South-Pacific stars would score in every inning from then on. In the top of six, U.L. Washington's triple was cashed in by a single off the bat of R.J. Reynolds to make it 7-2. But in the bottom half of the inning, the East-Midwest squad would answer back with a Billy North double and a pinch-hit RBI single by none other than the hometown crowd favorite Ed Kirkpatrick of the Mud Hens who received a 5-minute standing ovation from the crowd.
South-Pacific narrowed the gap to 8-4 in the top of the 7th with a string of singles by Gene Larkin, Gus Zernial, and Bernie Allen to load the bases before Season 2's batting champ, Ted Uhlaender of the Bulls drove in a pair of runs with a two-out single of his own.
The East-Midwest crew wasn't done though, as they scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the 7th when a Bill Tuttle sacrifice fly scored Fran Healy who had doubled to lead off the inning.
A game that had started off so lopsided, and which had gotten even more lopsided in the middle innings, became a nail-biter over the last couple frames, though, as the South-Pacific bats wouldn't go quietly. In the top of the 8th, Ron Stone led off with a home run, followed by Sammy White walk, a Gene Larkin strikeout, and a two-run homer by Zernial, who did not disappoint those owners who voted him into the All-Star game. That narrowed the deficit to 9-7.
Then in the top of the 9th, Uhlaender led off with a single up the middle, followed by a Tom Tresh groundout that moved Uhlaender to 2nd base. Stone got his third hit of the game, a single to right that scored Uhlaender making it a 1-run game. But Charlie Hough managed to retire the last two batters to finish off a very entertaining game.
All 54 players saw game action before a sold-out crowd of 10,500 in Toledo's Klinger Park. Highlights included Jamie Farr singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch, and Luis Severino almost hitting Commissioner Gus with the ceremonial first pitch.
For more information on the game, please message the Commissioner. And good luck in the 2nd half everyone!!
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