The turning of the guard begins in the AL. 

The San Antonio Saints outlasted the Capital City Capitals in seven games.  Rookie Chris Heston hurled five sparkling innings of no-hit ball before giving way to the Saint pen.  Series MVP Jose Bautista started the home half of Game 7 with a homer and San Antonio won it 4-0.  Bautista slugged four homers, scored seven runs and knocked in six.   His OPS of 1.058 was good enough to earn the MVP honors in a tightly contested series.

Game 1: CAP 8, SAS 5:

This one started out as a tight game with the score tied 1-1 until the top of the 5^th.  Francisco Lindor started the series with a single off Michael Wacha.  He scored two outs later when former Saint Anthony Rizzo tripled.  Chris Archer was dominant for Capital City until the bottom of the 4^th, hurling a no hitter and facing the minimum.  But David Peralta walked with one out in the 4^th and went to 3^rd on a  Giancarlo Stanton double.  Jason walked Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases. It almost worked as Posey hit a double play grounder that Lindor muffed after getting the out at 2^nd.  The tie didn’t last long.

The Capitals struck for four runs in the 5^th to blow the game open.  Johnathan Schoop walked and took 2^nd on a Kevin Kiermaier single.  Both moved up on a ground out.  Lindor then gave Cap city a 2-1 lead with a ringing single.  Another ground out moved up the runners with two outs.  Paul Goldschmidt ripped a long homer down the left field line for a 5-1 bulge.  It got worse when JD Martinez hit a leadoff HR and Schoop doubled an out later Kiermaier tripled him home.  Chris Couglan made it 8-1 with a ground out.

It looked like the Saints were done but Stanton led a comeback with an 8^th inning leadoff HR.  Gonzalez and Jose Reyes each singled.  Matt Den Dekker tripled them both home and scored to make it 8-5 when Eduardo Nunez doubled.  That was as close as the Saints would get.  Erasmo Ramirez got the final four outs to nail down the win for Cap City.  W-Archer, L- Wacha

Game 2:  SAS 5, CAP 4 (10)

David Price has been underwhelming in the playoffs.  He wasn’t in Game 2.  He struck out six batters through 3 innings and looked untouchable for most of the time.

After Price worked a perfect 1^st, Jose Bautista walked off Francisco Liriano to start the bottom of the frame.  He scored an out later on a Stanton triple.  Kelby Tomlinson grounded out to plate Stanton. It stayed 2-1 until the 3^rd when Rueben Tejada doubled with two outs and scored on a Lindor single.  Price allowed only those two hits through the first 6 innings.  The Saints built a 4-1 lead with an RBI walk by Neil Walker and a solo HR by Stephen Piscotty in the mid innings.

Price was roughed up in the 7^th when Rizzo singled and Goldschmidt hit another big homer.  Martinez doubled and went to 3^rd on a ground out.  Justin Miller came on and gave up a game-tying double to Chris Coughlan.  Miller stopped the bleeding there and the Saint bullpen didn’t give up another base runner in the game. The Cap bullpen worked out of jams until the bottom of the 10^th Adam Warren was tiring after a scoreless 9^th.  He gave up a leadoff single in the 10^th to Gonzalez.  AGone went to 3^rd on a Posey single.   Jason walked Duda intentionally and brought on Trevor Rosenthal.  Jose Reyes only walked 31 times all year but drew a walkoff free pass to tie the series. W-Narveson L- Warren

Game 3: SAS 7, CAP 5

Bautista again started the game with a bang, this time doubling.  Peralta walked and Stanton singled for the first run.  AGone’s sac fly made it 2-0.  Garrett Richards started the 2^nd inning with a pair of strikeouts.  Bautista hammered a solo homer to end that streak.  Then Peralta singled and Stanton followed with a no-doubt Big Fly for a 5-0 lead.

Chris Heston gave one of those runs back in the 2^nd when Rizzo led off the bottom of the inning with a solo.  It stayed 5-1 until the bottom of the 5^th.  Hank Conger singled and went to 3^rd on an Alex Gordon on a double. Felipe Rivero came on for Heston and promptly surrendered a three run blast to pinch hitter Chris Colabello.  A single, bunt out and a walk had Cap City threatening.  But Walker snared a liner up the middle and doubled the runner off 2^nd to end the threat.  The Saints extended the lead with solos in the 6^th by Lucas Duda and 9^th by Bautista.  Johnathan Papelbon gave up a solo to Conger in the 9^th and the tying runs were on with two outs when Joaquin Benoit got Lindor to fly out.  W-Miller, L-Richards, S-Benoit

Game 4: CAP 6, SAS 0

Danny Salazar and Ubaldo Jimenez were both inseason trade acquisitions who pitched well for their new teams in the regular season. That is where the similarities stop.  Salazar strangled the Saints, allowing only three hits and three walks in eight innings, while whiffing 10.  Jimenez was rocked for five runs in as many innings.

Cap City got on the board in the bottom of the 1^st when Colabello tripled and scored on a Goldschmidt ground out.  Lindor doubled in a run in the 3^rd and scored when Colabello slammed a two run HR. Martinez hit a solo in the 6^th and Schoop capped the scoring with an RBI single in the 8^th.  W- Salazar, L-Jimenez

Game 5: SAS 5, CAP 4

Wacha and Archer might have switched uniforms in their 2^nd meeting.  Wacha hurled five scoreless frames and only gave up two unearned runs in the 6^th.  The Saints jumped out to a 5-0 lead off Archer when Bautista hit a three run shot in the 3^rd and got a pair in the 4^th on a Reyes single and a Walker sac fly.

The Caps fought back.  Rizzo led off the bottom of the 6^th with a comebacker to Wacha.  The big right hander muffed the ball for an error.  Rizzo moved to 2^nd when Martinez drew a walk and then scampered to third on a Conger fly out. Schoop plated Rizzo with a single and Martinez came home on a Roberto Perez sac fly.  Martinez made it 5-3 in the 7^th when he doubled home another run.  Justin Miller pitched a scoreless 8^th for the Saints and started the 9^th.  Colabello led off the frame with a single.  Benoit came on to get Goldschmidt on a fly out and Rizzo on a grounder that sent Colabello to 2^nd.  Martinez again doubled, making it 5-4.  With 1^st base open and Schoop on deck, Alan Lehmann opted to pitch to Conger instead of walking him for a righty-righty matchup. Conger singled to center and Peralta came up throwing as Martinez rounded third.  The throw was just in time to end the game as Posey held on for the out.

“I got to the ball quickly and was fortunate to get a good grip on it right away,” said Peralta after the game.  “I can always trust Buster to be as solid as a brick wall back there.  He did his job.”

W- Wacha 1-1, L-Archer 1-1, S-Benoit (2).

Game 6: CAP 5, SAS 1

When the games returned to South Texas, the Capitals sent rookie Trevor Bauer out for his first start of the series.  He responded with eight dominant innings, whiffing 11 batters and walking none while allowing only four hits.  Price gave up four runs in the top of the third.  Rizzo ripped an RBI single to start the scoring and JD Martinez hammered a three run HR way out to left.  In the 7^th, Price threw away an easy throw that allowed an unearned run for a 5-0 bulge.  Duda hit a HR in the 8^th to break the shutout, but nobody could dent the CAP bullpen.  W- Bauer, L-Price

Game 7: SAS 4, CAP 0

The Saints’ Chris Heston has had a rocky rookie year, giving up a 4.57 ERA.  His 15-7 record was good, but when he was bad, he was really bad.  So now with all the other Saint pitchers tired, their playoff hopes rode on his young shoulders.

And the rookie held the Caps hitless through five innings. By that time the Saints had built a 4-0 lead.  Bautista homered to start the home half of the 1^st inning and Reyes doubled in a run later.  Capital City starter Garrett Richards walked in two runs in the 2^nd inning.

Heston gave up a one out walk in the 6^th to Derrick Dietrich and then lost his no hitter when Goldschmidt doubled down the left field line.  With the tying run in the on deck circle, Lehmann went to his bullpen despite Heston’s early success.

“I was overjoyed when the kid threw those five sparkling innings,” Lehmann said. “But when I saw lefties like Rizzo and Gordon looming, I knew I had to pull him before the game started slipping away.  Lefties have been his kryptonite all season.”

It worked.  Four Saint relievers worked 3.2 scoreless frames, escaping the 6^th inning jam and not allowing the tying run to bat at any time in the game. W-Heston, L- Richards 0-2

The Saints hit .225/.314/.403 while the CAPs turned in a line of .226/.299/.430 for the series.  Giancarlo Stanton could only start four games due to usage limits, but he made the most of those starts, hammering six extra base hits and a .381/.409/.905 slash line with four runs and five RBI.

If the Caps had pulled out game 7 then their MVP would likely have been either Lindor .310/.333/.448 with 5 runs and 3 RBI or Martinez with .269/.345/.731 line, 3 HRs, 5 runs and 7RBI.

Jason made playing these games easy and had a tremendous attitude whether he was ahead or behind.  Rob was right that his team is the one to watch in the future and this is just the beginning of the Capital City window opening on playoffs.  This wasn’t Jason’s year, but his year won’t be far off with the way he has built such a solid foundation.