Neither Chuck Knoblauch nor Jackie Collum had any intention of letting the North Star Stature Showdown end in five games.
Knoblauch’s five hits equaled the number Collum allowed the Tales, and the Stories defeated their top-seeded counterparts 9-1 to keep the matchup going.
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While Collum burned the Tales, the Stories opened the floodgates against Michael Pineda by five in the third, sending nine men to the plate and hitting five doubles (four in a row). They added even in the second, the key came with a triple by César Tovar, and finally they knocked out Pineda with a single run in the fifth.
The Tales got their only run in the bottom of the fifth, Terry Jorgensen singled off Mike Poepping, but the Stories tied it when Knoblauch hit a solo home run.
Although the Stories could do little against Aaron Slegers, who pitched 4.1 innings with Knoblauch’s home run as his only blemish, the Tales were silenced by Collum (seven innings, five hits, one run) and reliever Francisco Oliveras (two innings, one hit, no runs).
The last time the Stories narrowed the game to a single game, they were defeated. They’ll hope the situation doesn’t repeat itself in a matchup between starters Lee Stange and Mike Smithson from the high-scoring Game 2.