by Francis Ferry, NLN beat writer

October 7, 2019: Aurora, Colorado – Aurora knew their series with Yuma would not be an easy one, but as the team walked off the field in subdued celebration – this club is no post-season rookie, the club house was closer to sullen than celebratory.

After breaking off a nasty curve ball for a called third strike to Kane Moore for the second out in the fourth, Martín Francisco immediately grabbed his right elbow and, with a grimace, walked directly off the mound. The jubilant crowd of 49,866, crazed by ‘Sawmill’s 7^th strikeout of the game, quickly was subdued at the sight of Aurora’s 19-game winner walking off the field.

After the game, Borealis GM Will Topham confirmed the worst fears – Francisco has a tear of the Ulnar Collateral Ligament. A MRI will be conducted tomorrow for further confirmation and a determination of treatment options – including Tommy John surgery, but the prognosis is that he will take a minimum of 9 months to heal, meaning that Aurora’s ‘Sawmill’ will not be back in the line-up until July.

Things started out well for Martín as he struck out 3 of the first 5 batters before Moore hit the first pitch he saw on the day for a double, scoring on a Rentería single off a 2-2 pitch. Aurora came right back in the bottom of the second as singles by Salinas and Talley and a Mike Hale double squared the score.

Come the third inning there were signs that Francisco was struggling. ‘Sawmill’ was hitting his location, but there was a noticeable drop in velocity. Dean Leslie fouled off four pitches that would have been strike three an inning earlier and after fouling off three pitches that Francisco was blowing by hitters earlier, Ron Frederick singled. Then come the fourth, after striking out Burke, ‘Sawmill’ walked Rod Johnson and was seen as physically bearing down on Kane Moore – perhaps ticked at the RBI double in the second. Either way, the three-pitch strikeout was the last out Francisco would record on the year.

“This is a blow to our chances in the coming series with Reno,” Aurora manager Don James said in his post-game meeting with the press “but by no means will we let this get us down. We didn’t win 107 games with a one-man pitching staff. We’ve plenty of confidence in Christian (Murdoch).”

Meanwhile, there was a play-off series to win.

Nolan Kuhn replaced Francisco and immediately walked Rentería on four pitches, to the groans of the crowd – which became cheers as he left Johnson and Rentería stranded with a strike out of Jay White.

Gunner had righted his ship after surrendering the lone run in the second, giving up a lone single (to Vinson) over the following three innings. After Kuhn pitched a pair of 1-2-3 innings (thanks in part to a DP in the 5^th), the heart of the Borealis line-up struck – and the Yuma defense failed their Ace.

Pierce led off the 6^th with a single. Britt (who had a horrid series at .158) dribbled one out front of the plate that Burke fielded and, as he tried to get Britt at first, threw wildly down the RF line – so wildly that the slow-footed Britt easily beat the throw to second. Nick Giles followed a Salinas fly-out with a two run single that put Aurora up 3-1.

‘Sleepy’ got Moore to ground out to start the 7^th, then Juan Martínez came on to finish the inning and then set down the Yuman’s 1-2-3 in the 8^th, setting up Bryant Burris, and his record-setting 54 saves, for the series clinching save. But as Borealis fans will attest – it’s never a given that it’ll be easy with Burris.

And this was one of those days.

Manuel greeted Burris with a lead-off single, but Burke popped up to Giles and Johnson lined a fly ball down the RF line that Pope (in for Talley) raced to and gathered in. Then things got very scary as Moore hit a deep fly, high off the right-field wall – nearly a game-tying HR. The HR-to-be was but a double that put the tying runs in scoring position with two outs. Rentería worked the count to his favor, but chopped a ground ball past the mound that José Rivera grabbed near second and threw to first to begin the celebration of Aurora’s first post-season victory since 2014’s 4-3 series win over Bakersfield in the Alliance Tournament (a season that ended in a Charleston sweep in the PEC). The win ends a streak of four straight post-season series losses for Aurora. Despite the win and the history, most minds were on ‘Sawmill’ and the significance of the injury.

This is Martín Francisco’s third major injury to his right arm, suffering a torn labrum in his shoulder back in 2011 while in the Arlington system, then, a ruptured tendon in his pitching hand side-lined him in the summer of 2017. The UCL injury ended a streak for ‘Sawmill’ in which he was arguably the hottest pitcher in the PEBA – 8-2 over his last 10 starts, allowing only 9 runs in 63 IP for a 1.27 ERA over the final two months of the season. A 19-game winner in 2019, ‘Sawmill’ posted a 2.56 ERA with 155 K over 211 IP.

The likely replacement in the rotation (as James intimated) will be right-handed Christian Murdoch, who was 12-9 with a 3.75 ERA on the season. Murdoch struck out 221 and walked 66 over 187 IP. In May, he struck out 17 in a game v. Kalamazoo and had 7 double-digit strikeout games. He faced Reno once this year, giving up 2 H and 2 runs, while striking out 11 over 8.2 in Aurora’s 5-2 win in May. Since, Murdoch has pitched sporadically down the stretch, while Reno was one of the hottest teams in the league. Don’t look at his relief appearances v. Yuma for some direction – he gave up 2 R on 4 H in 1.1 inning in Game 2, but pitched 2.1 hitless, scoreless innings in Game 4.

Reno comes to town, surviving a scare from Crystal Lake, losers of 9 of 10 games played in Aurora this year (and 12 of 6 overall). The match-up for Game 1 looks to be Michel Provost v. Octávio Rivera. In four starts, Rivera was 2-0, with 2 ND, and a 2.88 ERA. Each of his starts improved upon the previous start, so Rivera will be a tough opener for Aurora.