Thunder Achieves Worst to First Comeback

Having finished with the worst record in 2017, the Toronto Thunder capped off a strong year with a World Series win over the strong Boston Bobcats club.
Summary:
Game 1:
Boston had Division series MVP Marcus Stroman going in game 1 at home and the Thunder had Cy Young winner Chris Sale. This turned out to be a true pitching duel. Both Stroman and Sale started off well as each went through the first 3 innings with no threats. Stroman set the Thunder down in the top of the 4th and Boston finally broke through in the bottom of the 4th with a leadoff single by Cain. Cain promptly stole second, but Betts lined out. Encarnacion then bounced a double off the wall to score Cain. Sale quickly got his composure back and got the next two to hold it to a Boston 1-0 lead. The Thunder stuck back in the top of the 5th, with Kevan Smith getting a single to lead off the inning. Justin Smoak followed with a liner to right that moved Smith to third and Beckham bounced to deep 2nd base and Boston took the double play and the run scored. Game tied at 1-1. Sale retired Boston over the next 2 innings and Stroman had no issues in the 6th either. However, Toronto would get another run in the 7th off a solo home run for Belte. Toronto up 2-1. With the lead, the Thunder manager pulled Sale and went to the strong bullpen. Using 3 different pitchers in the 7th, 3 more in the 8th with Green going the last 1 1/3 they shut down the strong Boston squad for the rest of the game. To their credit the Boston bullpen was equally good for their last two innings. Final score Toronto 2 and Boston 1. Toronto up in the series 1-0. Winning pitcher – Sale 6IP, 8Ks, 0BB, 4 Hits. Losing pitcher – Stroman 7IP, 3Ks, 1BB, 8 Hits. Save – Green. Batters of note: Thunder – Cruz 2-4, Smith 2-4, Smoak 2-4. Boston – Encarnacion 2-3 with 1 RBI, Avila 1-1.
Game 2:
Boston looked to even the series and started Luis Severino while the Thunder countered with often injured Garrett Richards. The Thunder knew it was taking a chance as Richards could only go a few innings and the bullpen would have to shoulder the load for rest of the game. Both teams went quietly in the 1st inning but the Thunder stuck in the next two innings. Beltre led off with a single, Smith bounced out, but Smoak would step and smack one deep to left to take a 2-0 lead. Severino escaped further damage in the inning by getting Polanco and Gardner. Richards got through his second inning with no damage, and the Thunder went back to work in the 3rd. Judge led off the inning and launched one deep for his first homerun of the series. Gonzalez bounced out but Cruz stepped up and also put one out to give Toronto a 4-0 lead. Richards left the game and started the long line of relief. Peacock came in first and struck out 3 Bobcats in a row. Toronto was quiet in the 4th but Boston finally stuck back. Betances came in in the 4th and got two quick outs which left him to face Matt Olson. Matt was not impressed with the Thunder hurler and deposited his first pitch in the right field stands. Betances while a bit unnerved, gave up a walk, but then retired the next batter. The Thunder went down in the 5th and Kela quickly dispatched the Bobcats in the bottom of the 5th. That is when it really went wrong for Severino. Smoak led off with a double and Polanco walked. Gardner struck out and up came Judge. Judge waited for his pitch and when he got it, he sent the ball to deep centerfield for a three run shot and a 7-1 lead. With that, the game was all but over and Toronto would cruise to the 7-2 final and a series lead 2-0. Winning pitcher – Peacock 1IP, 3Ks, 0BB, 0 Hits. Losing pitcher – Severino 6 2/3IP, 5Ks, 5BBs, 13 Hits. Batters of note: Thunder - Judge 2-4 2 HRs 4 RBI, Cruz 3-4 1 HR, Smoak 2-5 1 HR 2 RBI, Polanco 2-3. Boston – Vargas 2-2, Olson 1-2 1 HR, Joyce 1-3 1 HR.
Game 3:
With the series shifting to Toronto, the Thunder went to Brad Peacock who after his solid inning of relief in game 2 was feeling confident. The Bobcats went to Drew Pomeranz the highly rated lefty. Peacock shut the Bobcats down in the first and that was replicated by Pomeranz. Peacock moved through the second with no issue but in the bottom of the 2nd, Pomeranz started having trouble. Toronto scored 2 runs each in the 2nd and 3rd as well as tacked on a run in the 4th and 5th. Peacock went through his 5 innings with little trouble and the Thunder bullpen continued to do good work until giving a run up in the top of the 9th. Final score 6-1 and a Toronto series lead 3-0. Winning pitcher – Peacock 5IP, 8Ks, 3BBs, 5 Hits. Losing pitcher – Pomeranz 8IP, 10Ks, 3BBs, 12 Hits. Batters of note: Thunder – Jackson 2-4 1 RBI, Cruz 2-4 1 HR 2 RBI, Gardner 2-3 1 R 2 SB, Gonzalez 2-4 1 RBI 1 R, Zunino 1-3 1 HR. Boston Avila 1-2, Simmons 2-4 1 RBI.
Game 4:
As Toronto looked to close out the series, the two pitchers from game 1 started this game. The Bobcats feeling the desperation got on the board quickly scoring on a Betts homerun with one out. Sale escaped a jam with more runners on to only be down 1. Stroman made quick work of his inning and the Bobcats stepped to the plate looking to do more damage against a shaky Sale. Deshields hit his first blast of the series and then Boston got Gomes and others on and with two out Gomes scored on a Marrero single for a quick 3 run lead. Toronto finally got on the board with a run in the bottom of the second on a Cruz homerun. Boston quickly countered with another run off of Sale on an Olson blast in the top of the third for the 4-1 lead. Toronto fought back scratching a run on a double by Beckham and a single by Gardner to make it 4-2. Sale finally calmed down and held the Bobcats scoreless in the 4th and the Thunder continued the fight with 2 more in the bottom of the 4th on a Smoak homerun and another on Beckham scoring on a Judge single. Score was now tied 4-4. Both teams were held scoreless in the 5th. Boston was determined to not let this game go, and Simmons got a two out hit single, stole second, and scored on a Gomes single to take the lead 5-4. Toronto came up to the plate and after a quick out, Stroman was looking good. But Beckham who was having a great day at the plate tripled. Gardner then hit a shot that just cleared the left field fence to give Toronto a lead at 6-5. Stroman was done for the day as in came Swarzak to put the fire out and end the inning. Sale was done and it was back to the Thunder Bullpen. Kela gave a hit but also got an out, Parker also gave up a hit as Boston had two men on with 1 out, but Butcher came in and got two quick outs to quell the uprising. Swarzak was excellent in the 8th and held the Thunder scoreless. Toronto decided with the lead that they simply were going to put this one in the hands of their closer and went for the two inning save. Green came in and got through 8th unscathed. Swarzak did not fare as well in his frame. Smoak hit his second homerun of the game with one out and that was all for the valiant reliever. Barnes came in and stopped any more damage. With Green staying in for his second frame of relief, Boston was desperate to avoid the sweep. Green got one quick out but then gave up an error and then a hit. Olson came up and Toronto chose to walk the young star loading the bases. Unfortunately for Boston, Deshields hit a pop out to the catcher and Green got the last out to leave the bases loaded. Toronto wins 7-5 and sweeps the series. Winning pitcher- Sale 6 IP, 9Ks, 2BBs, 9 Hits. Losing pitcher – Stroman 5 1/3IP, 2Ks, 2 BBs, 10 Hits. Save – Green 2IP, 3Ks, 2 BBs, 1 Hit. Batters of note: Toronto - Gardner 3-3 3 RBI, Cruz 2-3 1 HR, Smoak 2-4 2 HRs, Beckham 4-4 3 R. Boston – Gomes 2-3 1 RBI, Marrero 2-2 1 RBI, Olson 1-4 HR.
MVP – Nelson Cruz who went 9-15 with 3 HRs.
Notables, Sale 2 wins, Peacock 2 wins, Smoak 3 HRs, Beckham 4-4 with 3 runs in game 4.