Tornadoes Win 2-1 on Alex Torres Walk-Off
May 30, 2012 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Worcester Tornadoes News Release
After eight innings of fantastic baseball, rain brought Tuesday's game to an abrupt halt, with two outs in the top of the ninth and the Tornadoes and Bears tied at 1. It didn't take long for the Tornadoes to win the game in walk-off fashion.
On the third pitch of Wednesday morning, pinch hitter Chris Torres crushed a ball to left center field just over the glove of Quentin Davis for the walk-off win. The former Pittsfield Colonial had been 0-for-4 entering the game, but took advantage of his first home at bat. Facing off against Anthony Pluta, the catcher took the first pitch out to end the game six minutes after it was resumed. The walk-off win made a winner out of Mike Mullen who needed only two pitches to finish the strikeout of Eric McGee in the top half of the ninth.
The pitchers' duel pitted Worcester starter Kevin Cooper and Newark ace Michael Ness. Cooper went eight strong innings, allowing just three hits and walking two against nine strikeouts. In his first start in over a week, the right-hander retired 12 of the final 13 batter he faced and struck out two Bears in the fifth, sixth and seven innings.
Ness was just as good, through eight innings allowing three hits and striking out six Tornadoes batters. After spending his first two seasons in professional ball as a reliever, the Bears pitcher had his longest start of the season.
Worcester second baseman Brandon Pinckney continued his red-hot start with a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the third that score J.B. Brown to knot the game at one. Brendon Kelliher led off the inning with a single to right field for the Tornadoes first hit of the game, but was quickly erased on a fielder's choice. Pinckney followed two batters later with a double into the left field corner for his league-leading 11th RBI.
The Bears scored their lone run of the night in the top half of the inning, when Alex Bardeguez splashed a two-out RBI single to right field that plated Billy Alvino. Alvino led off the inning with an infield single off of Cooper's glove, advanced to second on a sacrifice and came around on Bardeguez' lone hit of the day.
Both teams struggled to put together many rallies, with just one instance of a team having multiple runners on at the same time. In the bottom of the fourth, Jose Canseco led off with a sharp grounder to short that was misplayed by Bardeguez for an error. Catcher Alex Trezza with a hit by pitch, but the pair were stranded at second and third after consecutive strikeouts by Ness to end the inning.
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