Fresno Grizzlies reach PCL title series but move on without MVP Matt Duffy

The Fresno Grizzlies are headed to their first-ever Pacific Coast League Championship Series, but they’ll have to do it without regular-season MVP Matt Duffy, who will join the parent-club Houston Astros on Monday.

The Grizzlies eliminated El Paso with a 7-4 victory in Game 4 on Saturday night for a 3-1 series win and will meet American Conference champ Round Rock in the PCL title series that begins Tuesday in Texas.

It was the first-ever postseason series victory for Triple-A Fresno. The 1998 team that reached the playoffs lost its Pacific Conference series in five games to Triple-A Calgary.

Despite a historic year for the club, the Grizzlies still must fulfill their duty to support their Major League affiliate.

The Fresno Grizzlies announced Sunday that Duffy will be joining the Houston Astros on Monday for their four-game series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. It’s a crucial series for the Astros, who are just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Rangers for first in the AL West.

Duffy is the first player to leave the Grizzlies since Major League rosters expanded to 40 players on Sept. 1 (outfielders Jonathan Villar, Preston Tucker and LH Joe Thatcher were called up that day).

The promotion is a first for Duffy, who finished the regular season hitting .294 with 20 home runs and 104 runs batted in to lead all of minor league baseball. He hit 3 for 14 (.214) with a double, two runs scored and two RBI in the Pacific Conference Series.

A few days before the start of the postseason, manager Tony DeFrancesco alluded to the possibility of losing a few players to the Astros and wasn’t overly concerned.

“There’s going to be some September call-ups, the roster could change, but the 25 guys that are still in this building are going to give it everything they got like they did all year,” he said.

Clinching victory – The Grizzlies really didn’t want to play another game Sunday. The thought of two days rest and a shot at the PCL Championship were long on their mind.

In turn, Brett Oberholtzer cashed in a quality start in Saturday’s Game 4, retiring his first 11 batters before giving up a hit, and 17 of 19 before allowing a run as Fresno went on to clinch the Pacific Conference title.

“My goal was to win and compete for my team, so hopefully we could celebrate after the game – and we did for sure,” said Oberholtzer, adding that the Grizzlies showered the visiting locker room at Southwest University Park with champagne and beer.

The Grizzlies climbed to a 5-0 lead over three innings, highlighted by Tyler White’s solo homer in the third and Tony Kemp’s bases-loaded, two-run double in the fourth.

“We definitely didn’t want to have to play (a Game 5 Sunday), that’s for sure,” said Grizzlies outfielder Alex Presley, who was 2 for 4 with a run scored. “We wanted to close it out, and we did.”

Oberholtzer gave up a solo homer to Hunter Renfroe in the bottom of the sixth. The lefty lasted 6 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on five hits, to go with four strikeouts and no walks.

Jordan Jankowski relieved him with two outs and runners on the corners in the seventh, and escaped the jam by striking out Jason Hagerty.

Jankowski returned in the eighth and gave up back-to-back singles before Renfroe connected for his second homer of the game – a three-run shot that sliced El Paso’s six-run deficit in half. Jankowski regrouped after the home run, retiring the next three batters.

The Grizzlies added two runs in the top of the eighth, via a Duffy sacrifice fly and a throwing error at home plate.

James Hoyt retired the side in order in the ninth for his second save of the playoffs, clinching the postseason series victory with a swinging strikeout.

It’s the second time the Grizzlies have celebrated on the road this season – last month they were in Iowa when they clinched the division.

DeFrancesco told his players that trend will change with the next series.

“Anything can happen from here,” DeFrancesco told The Bee late Saturday. “I told these guys, ‘The next time we celebrate, we’ll celebrate at our clubhouse.’ ”

▪ On the other side of the PCL playoffs, Round Rock beat Oklahoma City 2-1 on Friday night to sweep the American Conference series 3-0. The Express are managed by Fresno native Jason Wood. The best-of-five PCL championship series will have its first two games in Round Rock on Tuesday and Wednesday with the remaining three games played at Fresno, as necessary.

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Fresno Grizzlies reach PCL title series but move on without MVP Matt Duffy."