A brilliant outing by Lewis Thorpe. Homers carry the day in Brisbane. Canberra says it ain't over until it's over.
MELBOURNE 4, ADELAIDE 1 IN MELBOURNE
Twins: Lewis Thorpe struck out eight in seven shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks.
Adelaide: Joe Sclafani (Houston) was 1-for-4 with a double and a run. Chris Jacobs (Dodgers) was 1-for-3 with a double. Blake Smith (Dodgers) retired all seven men he faced, striking out two.
Melbourne: Brad Harman was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Jared Schlehuber (Kansas City) was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his third. Josh Davies was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The game: Schlehuber hit a three-run homer in the third and Davies had an RBI single in the fifth. Adelaide's lone run came in the ninth. They did not get the tying run up to bat.
BRISBANE 6, PERTH 1 IN BRISBANE
Twins: Logan Wade (Brisbane) was 1-for-4.
Perth: Matt Kennelly (Atlanta) was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth. George Barber was 1-for-3 with a double. Kevin Grendell struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks.
Brisbane: David Sutherland was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth) and four RBIs. Ryan Battaglia (Cleveland) was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run (his fifth), scoring twice. Casey Barnes pitched seven innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
The game: A home run by Sutherland and an RBI single by Justin O'Connor produced two runs in the second, and Sutherland's three-run homer and Battaglia's solo shot in the third made it 6-0. Perth got its lone run in the seventh on Kennelly's home run.
CANBERRA 8, SYDNEY 7 IN CANBERRA
Sydney Trent D'Antonio (Miami) was 2-for-5 with a double and a two-run homer, scoring twice. Joey DeMichele (White Sox) was 4-for-5 with two doubles and a run. Trent Schmutter was 3-for-5 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in two.
Canberra: Mike Crouse (Toronto) was 3-for-3 with two walks, a double, and a home run (his second), driving in two. Jeremy Barnes was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Eric Massingham struck out three in two shutout innings, allowing no hits and one walk.
The game: A three-run double by Schmutter capped a five-run first for Sydney. D'Antonio added a two-run homer in the fourth to make the lead 7-0. Canberra picked up two in the fifth, three in the sixth, and one in the seventh to cut the lead to 7-6. In the eighth, an RBI single by Barnes tied the score and a single by Crouse drove in the go-ahead run. Sydney went down in order in the ninth.