Chicago Dogs stay alive, force playoff series to decisive Game 3

The Chicago Dogs staved off elimination and forced a deciding Game 3, defeating the Cleburne Railroaders 4-0 Friday night.

Connor Curlis was spectacular for the Dogs. The lefthander, acquired from the Kansas City Monarchs two weeks ago, shut out the top offense in the league, scattering six singles over six innings of work.

Curlis walked only two and struck out five, throwing 95 pitches. In three outings with Chicago, Curlis has allowed just one earned run in 17 innings.

The offense got on Railroaders starter Luke Boyd early as a sacrifice fly by Chase Harris and RBI single from Nick Dalesandro gave the Dogs a 2-0 lead after two innings. An RBI single from Marty Costes in the third inning and a Narciso Crook run-scoring double in the fourth completed the scoring as Lukas Galdoni and Joey Marciano came in after Curlis and finished the shutout.

The decisive Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday night in Cleburne. The Dogs will send All-Star John Baker (5-4 4.11) to the mound in an effort to send Chicago to their second consecutive Eastern Division Finals. Baker has been terrific against the Railroaders this year. In two starts, he has allowed just three earned runs in 14 innings with 12 strikeouts. Cleburne will counter with Caleb Smith (1-1 5.40).

All Chicago Dogs games are streamed, live and free, on aabaseball.tv.