Updating the Midwest League playoff action from 9/13

Starting in the East..

TinCaps force deciding game against Loons

Stiven Osuna and Rob Musgrave struggled so much early in the season, the pitchers were shifted to the bullpen.

Osuna eventually worked his way back into the rotation while Musgrave found his groove as a reliever.

Sunday, the pair helped keep the TinCaps’ season alive. The two limited Great Lakes to four hits en route to a 9-4 victory in Game 2 of the Midwest League Eastern Division Championship series.

Justin Baum finished a triple shy of the cycle and collected four RBI as the TinCaps rebounded from a devastating 11-10, 11-inning loss in the opener to force a decisive Game 3. The winner of tonight’s game, which starts at 7:05 at Parkview Field, advances to the Midwest League Championship.

Quotes?

“They told me when I came in (to the clubhouse) that Osuna would go five, I would go three and (reliever Nick) Schumacher would close it out,” Musgrave said. “Osuna did a great job, he pitched amazing. They brought me in to face those lefties and I was able to do my job.”

Musgrave’s outing means Fort Wayne will have nearly its entire bullpen available tonight.

“(Musgrave) held (the Loons) there. He got back into his form and ran it all the way to the end,” TinCaps manager Doug Dascenzo said. “It was an excellent, excellent gutsy performance by him.”

Who is starting tonight's game?

The TinCaps turn to their ace, Simon Castro, for the winner-take-all Game 3.

What about Great Lakes?

The deciding game will be played tonight in Fort Wayne at 7 p.m. The Loons will send left-handed ace Aaron Miller to the mound, with the winner of the game advancing to the championship round, which then becomes a best-of-five series, starting on Tuesday.

"You never want to be in a Game 3 situation, because you'd rather win in two. But when two good teams are playing, most of the time it's going to go to a Game 3," said Loons' manager Juan Bustabad. "We won at home (Saturday) and took care of business. And to their credit, they won and played well at home (Sunday)."

Bustabad expects a close game tonight with Miller facing TinCaps' ace Simon Castro, a righthander, who pitched a no-hitter in August against the Dayton Dragons. In the regular season, Castro was 10-6 with a 3.33 earned-run average.

"With those two (pitchers), it should be a thrilling game," he said. "We like how our pitching lines up. We've got three (lefthanders) ready to pitch, and they've got five lefties in their lineup. We believe we have the advantage there, because they've struggled with left-handed pitching."

And in the West...

The Cedar Rapids paper article was linked to last night. Here is the Burlington paper...

Bees blocked

"We've behind the eight ball all year long with the adversity we've had to handle and overcome," said Burlington manager Jim Gabella. "Just another day. We come out and play the way we're supposed to play, play the way we've been playing, and we'll be OK."

The Bees jumped on top first, scoring one run, but leaving runners on base after loading the bases with just one out.

Burlington would get nothing else against [Manuarys] Correa and reliever Andrew Taylor. Correa allowed just three hits after the third inning and Taylor gave up one in the ninth.