2010 World Series Game 2

Charlotte (Dave Fitzgerald) at Philadelphia (Lee Harvey Oswalt). This one is a good pitching duel with scoring at a premium. In the 4th, Charlotte strikes first, putting a mini rally together with a Cedeno leadoff single, stolen base, and then moves over to 3B on an infield single from Jacen Solo. Anakin Solo then singles to right to make it 1-0. Oswalt limits the damage by getting the next 3 batters to pop out, strikeout, and strikeout.

The lead is short lived however, as Philadelphia ties it in the bottom half of the inning. Foreman starts the inning with a hit by pitch and then advances to 3B on a Domingo Chavez 2B. Jerry Ruiz then hits a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Thats the way the score stayed until the top of the 6th, when Jacen Solo hits a solo HR to make it 2-1.

Philadelphia threatens again in the 7th, when Paul White singles to put runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out off Brian Torres (for those keeping score at home, White is now 2-2 with a HR against the "lefty specialist"). However, the inning ends as quickly as it starts on a Matt Bulger 4-6-3 DP. In the bottom of the 9th, Charlotte leads 2-1 and brings in ace Rob Porter to try to nail down the win. The first batter he faces, Jerry Ruiz, hits a solo HR to tie the game. After a Chris Gruber ground out, Jimmy Taylor hits a ball of the centerfield fence for a triple.

Charlotte manager Mark Roberts then goes with a risky strategy: He intentionally walks Ron Foreman and Paul White to load the bases. He then plays the infield in against Matt Bulger. Bulger hits a sharp grounder to 2B, and Jacen Solo briefly bobbles it, but is able to make a strong throw to the plate to get the second out, and keep the game alive. Corey Sloan then hits a deep fly to right, but Sergio Perez makes the running catch at the wall to send the game to extra innings.

Both bullpens clamp down, and the 10 inning is scoreless. In the 11th, Jacen Solo leads off with a double off lefty James Willits. After two non-runner advancing outs, a wild pitch sends Solo to 3B. Mike Connor then bloops a single to right to make it 3-2. In the bottom of the 11th, Tommy Klink records a 1-2-3 inning to get the relief win. Fitzgerald goes 6-5-1-1-3-0 and Klink goes 2-0-0-0-0-3 for the win. For Philadelphia, Oswalt goes 6-6-2-2-1-4. Jacen Solo is the player of the game with his 3-5 performance, hitting a double, homer, scoring the winning run, and cutting off the game winning run with a defensive stop in the bottom of the 9th.