Neither Chuck Knoblauch nor Jackie Collum had any intent of letting the North Star Stature Showdown end at five games.
Knoblauch’s five hits matched the number Collum allowed to the Tales, and the Stories
walloped their higher-headed counterparts 9-1 to keep the Showdown going.
While Collum burned through the Tales, the Stories opened the gates against Michael Pineda for five in the third, sending nine men to the plate and hammering five doubles (four consecutive). They added a pair in the second, the key hit Cesar Tovar’s triple, and finally knocked out Pineda with a single run in the fifth.
The Tales got their only run in the bottom of the fifth, Terry Jorgensen singling in Mike Poepping, but the Stories matched it when Knoblauch cracked a solo home run.
Although the Stories could do little against Aaron Slegers, who pitched 4.1 innings with Knoblauch’s homer the only blemish, the Tales were muted 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 one game, they got trounced. They’ll hope the situation does not repeat in a matchup of starters, Lee Stange and Mike Smithson, from the high-scoring Game 2.
