Arizona State (29-16, 14-7 Pac-12) was unable to hold the Stanford offense at bay. All eight of its runs came in the following inning after the Sun Devils scored a run.
Stanford put up four runs in the fourth, taking a 4-1 lead on the Sun Devils. ASU responded with two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth, taking a 6-5 lead over the Cardinal. Nick McLain and Isaiah Jackson were both able to have two-hit games, with a home run each to their name. McLain’s blast came in the fifth as part of ASU’s comeback. For McLain, it was his seventh home run in just his 13th game this season.
In the seventh, Stanford put its first two runners on with a double and hit-by-pitch. After ASU recorded the next two outs before one mistake and a hanging offspeed pitch resulted in a three-run homer that proved the difference in the contest.
The Cardinal tagged Sun Devil starter Timmy Manning for four runs in the fourth inning after three scoreless innings to open the game. He allowed three doubles and a home run in the inning. ASU received one inning in just five pitches from Jonah Giblin in relief.
TURNING POINT
The Sun Devils rallied from an early three-run deficit top retake the lead behind three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Down to its last out in the top of the seventh, however, The Cardinal cranked a three-run home run on one missed pitch to retake a two-run lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.
BIG MOMENT
Stanford starter Quinn Mathews, who threw 121 pitches, kept the Sun Devils off the board in the seventh and eighth inning with five strikeouts on seven batters faced.
FINAL STRAW
Cardinal closer Ryan Bruno struck out all three Sun Devils, flashing 100 on the radar gone in the process in the ninth inning to close out the game.
INNING-BY-INNING
First Inning
Timmy Manning threw a fearless opening inning that only took seven pitches to retire the first three Stanford batters, sending the Sun Devils to the plate.
Arizona State went down in order. The first three featured the return of Ryan Campos, who missed the last 11 games, due to injury, but an outstanding play by the first baseman kept the Sun Devils hitless heading into the second inning.
Second Inning
Manning kept the Cardinal hitters guessing with two strikeouts in the second frame, including a one-pitch liner to second base making the Cardinal go down the order. Jacob Tobias was the first baserunner for the Sun Devils after the Cardinal pitcher committed an error, but was stranded, keeping the game scoreless.
Third Inning
Despite Manning allowing the first hit of the contest with a ground-rule double, the runner was stranded at second after the fourth strikeout of the night by Manning and a fly out. Isaiah Jackson broke the scoreless tie with a moonshot to center field to give the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead, but were unable to bring more players in as the game headed into the fourth.
Fourth Inning
The Cardinal immediately responded with a lead-off home run to tie the game at one, then a hard-hit double and a walk followed. Stanford would bring in their second run of the inning with a double to left-field, then add two more with a sharply hit ball toward right-field making it 4-1. Manning was pulled after a double bounced off the right-field wall, with Brock Perry replacing him in relief to escape the inning, stranding two. Being unable to generate any action on the bases, the Sun Devils went 1-2-3 to head into the fifth inning,
Fifth Inning
Despite hitting a Cardinal batter, Perry registered two strikeouts to send it to the bottom half of the inning. All with two outs, Bronson Balholm singled, then the bat stayed hot for Nick McLain who fired a two-run laser over the left-field wall, his seventh home run of the season, to make it a 4-3 game going into the sixth.
Sixth Inning
Similar to the fourth inning, the Cardinal hit their second lead-off home run of the night to increase their lead to 5-3. After back-to-back walks, Jonah Giblin entered the game for Perry, who stranded two Stanford runners, including throwing one out to preserve the two run deficit and forcing a double play, sending the Sun Devils back up to bat.
Following a strikeout, Luke Keaschall was able to get on base with a throwing error by the third baseman. Then Tobias singled up the middle putting Nu’u Contrades to the plate who would hit a ground-rule double that scored one. Wyatt Crenshaw hit into a fielder’s choice, tying the game at five, as Jackson hit a laser up the middle to give the Sun Devils a 6-5 lead going into the seventh.
Seventh Inning
Blake Pivaroff entered the game for Giblin, who gave up a double and hit a batter to get into an early jam, but was unable to get out of the jam giving up a three-run home run to let Stanford take an 8-6 lead going into the stretch. Despite a single by Luke Hill, the Sun Devils were unable to register any action as they went into the eighth frame down by two.
Eighth Inning
After giving up a lead-off double, Pivaroff was able to get two outs before Will Rogersentered the game to get the final out of the frame. The Sun Devils went down the order in the eighth inning.
Ninth Inning
Rogers returned for the ninth inning tossing a scoreless frame and stranding the Cardinal runner on second and third to eliminate any threat to lengthen the Stanford lead. In a last gasp effort, ASU went down in order, unable to rally for the win.
ON DECK
No. 20 Arizona State will look to even the series tomorrow against the No. 7 Cardinal at 6:30 p.m. MST at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Coverage can be seen on Pac-12 Insider.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Zach Wargo and Sean Lynch
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