Good games for Lewis Thorpe and Logan Wade. A late rally carries Melbourne. Brisbane pulls away late as well.
MELBOURNE 5, PERTH 2 IN PERTH
Twins: Lewis Thorpe (Melbourne) pitched five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts.
Melbourne: Tyler Massey (Colorado) was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run. Brad Harman was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his third. Scott Wearne was 2-for-4.
Perth: George Barber was 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Corey Adamson (San Diego) was 2-for-5. Mike Ekstrom pitched eight shutout innings, allowing four hits and no walks with seven strikeouts.
The game: Perth scored on in the third on a ground out and one in the sixth on a homer by Matt Kennelly to take a 2-0 lead. It looked like that would be enough, as Mike Ekstrom appeared to be in total control. In the ninth, however, Ekstrom was removed, and the roof fell in. With one out, a pair of walks preceded Harman's three-run homer. A single, a walk, and a hit batsman loaded the bases, another walk brought in the fourth run, and a sacrifice fly scored a fifth run. Perth did not get the tying run up to bat in the bottom of the ninth.
BRISBANE 7, CANBERRA 3 IN CANBERRA
Twins: Logan Wade (Brisbane) was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.
Brisbane: Ryan Battaglia (Cleveland) was 1-for-3 with two walks and a double, scoring twice. Andrew Aizenstadt pitched three shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
Canberra: Jon Berti (Toronto) was 3-for-5 with two triples, scoring once and driving in one. Kyle Perkins was 1-for-2 with a walk and a double, scoring once.
The game: Brisbane scored in the first on an error and Canberra tied it in the third on a wild pitch. The teams traded runs in the fourth. In the fifth, Perkins doubled and scored on a Berti triple to give Canberra a 3-2 lead. In the seventh, however, Joshua Roberts hit a two-run triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to give Brisbane a 5-3 advantage. Wade hit a two-run single in the eighth to put the game out of reach.