Storm outlasts the Crew

 Joey removed himself from the pitching rotation and Brad “Two Step” McDougall started game 2 of the doubleheader. After retiring the first batter, The Crew recorded three straight hits and plated two runs to take the lead. Mills started Storm’s half of the inning with a triple, and Duran hit a sac fly to get Storm on the board. Three more singles and a fielder’s choice plated two more runs and Storm took the lead 3-2.

In the second inning, “Two Step” had some control issues, walking the bases loaded, but Storm managed to escape unscathed in the inning. Brian did his best Mills impression in the bottom half of the inning hitting a triple and Mills did his best Duran impression hitting his second triple of the game. Storm added five to take an 8-2 lead. 

“Two-Step” sailed through the third with a double play ending the inning, giving the Crew their second straight goose egg. Unfortunately, Storm dropped a goose egg of their own and the score remained 8-2.

The Crew managed to score one on old “Two-Step” in the fourth. Joey drove in two and then Rene launched a two run homer as Storm added four padding their lead at 12-2. Two-Step’s current contract status forbids him from pitching open innings, so it was time to bring in Batting Practice for one of the strangest innings pitched we’ve seen. He struck out the first two batters to start the inning, then gave up a home run. Walked the next batter, and gave up a home run. It looked like it was going to be an all or nothing inning before The Crew managed a couple of hits and the inning ended on a grounder. BP had given up more runs in an inning than Two-Step had in the game, making management wonder if they should reconsider Two-Step’s current contract status. Storm was only able to manage one more run, making the game uncomfortably close at 13-7. 

The Crew was blanked in the sixth, and Duran launched a solo home run extending the lead to 14-7, but Captain Underpants always said he needed eight, and with a pitcher nicknamed Batting Practice, the game still felt uncomfortably close against the top team in the league. And the Crew made it get even more uncomfortably close. After the first batter got out, they hit a single and a double. Scotty, who hits home runs against Jeff playing for pretty much every team in the league, popped out to the fence, and with two out it looked like Storm had the game wrapped up. However, The Crew had other plans. Four straight hits meant The Crew had brought the game to within three runs. That was as close as it would get, however, as Storm closed the door and won the game.

The big story might not be the win, but the advent of Two-Step MacDougall as a legitimate pitching option. Many pitchers have returned from Tommy John surgery to be better pitchers. Could Brad’s neck surgery have miraculously turned him into a pitcher? He spent much of his rehab period in the backyard learning the art of slo-pitch from an online pitching guru. Was this online guru a Mr. Miyagi to Brad’s slo-pitch kid? Time will tell, but if he can pitch consistently, the future looks a little bit stronger for Storm. 

Final Score: Storm 14 - The Crew 11