VERO BEACH, Fla. -- With the potential go-ahead run on base, Devin Chandler was one swing away from potentially extending his RBI career.
The Atlanta Braves Nike RBI senior team and the Newark Nike RBI senior team were deadlocked at 5-5 in the top of the seventh inning. Chandler came to the plate with two runners on and two outs. After pulling ahead in the count, 2-0, he got a fastball right down the middle and didn’t miss.
Chandler smoked the pitch into the left-center-field gap for a two-run double to give Atlanta the lead and put them up by the final score, 7-5, on Thursday at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex.
“I’ve been struggling all week,“ Chandler said. “I came up and the guys needed me. … It felt great. Got my team the lead, get to go into the championship, me and my guys are going to close it out.”
For Braves coach Travious Relaford, the comeback victory showed his team’s toughness.
“They just weren’t going to go down without a fight, and we were able to pull the win out,” Relaford said.
With the win, Atlanta advances to the final, where they’ll face the Houston Astros Nike RBI senior team on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Astros beat the Arizona Diamondbacks Nike RBI senior team, 4-2, on Thursday.
The two teams previously played on Wednesday in pool play, and the Astros won, 7-3.
“They put up a great fight,” said Jaden Barfield, a first baseman and pitcher for the Astros, of the first matchup against Atlanta. “They can hit a little bit, but I think our arms and our bats can get them a little more.”
The Braves jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Newark scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take control. Newark extended its lead to 5-3 after an obstruction at the plate scored another run. Atlanta reclaimed the lead with a four-run seventh inning.
Newark put the potential game-tying runs on second and third in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs. After falling into a 3-0 count, Brandon Stephens clawed back to strike out Jonathan Rodriguez looking to end the game and complete the comeback.
Stephens was the winning pitcher for Atlanta, getting two outs, both strikeouts. Clarence Callaway, Bruce Wyche and Chandler each had two RBIs for the Braves.
Chandler is in his final year with the Braves RBI team and making his first appearance in the RBI World Series.
“I’m ready to go win it,“ Chandler said. “I’ve been playing RBI for three years. This is my first time down here in the World Series with the senior team, so it’s time to go big or go home.”
William Acevedo was 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Newark.
Houston also had to survive rocky moments in the bottom of the seventh inning against Arizona after they put runners on first and second with one out following back-to-back walks. The Astros brought Barfield into the game to get the final two outs. He induced a ground ball and then struck out the final batter to end the game.
“I try to come in confident,“ Barfield said. “My motto is 'go be great.' I got it on my glove, that’s what I always tell myself. If I go be great, I think my greatest is better than anybody else.”
Patrick Lewis was the winning pitcher for the Astros. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run and six hits, and struck out six.
“He came out and threw strikes,“ Astros manager Daryl Wade said. “He’s a strike thrower. We thought a lot of the balls were strikes. It wasn’t early, but he started finding adjustments and got it where it needed to be.”
Robert Robinson Jr. paced Houston’s offense, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a walk.
Kevin Montes had two hits and an RBI for Arizona. Jaiden Tafoya was the losing pitcher, allowing three runs (one earned) in three innings.