Rzepczynski, Farina keep Doubledays alive
After suffering a 1-0, 10-inning loss in Sunday's series opener, the Doubledays returned the favor behind six innings of three-hit ball from Rzepczynski and three near-flawless frames from Farina to knot the best-of-3 series.
Rzepczynski (1-0), a fifth-round pick in this year's draft, walked one and struck out eight while inducing 10 groundouts.
"For the most part, I was working my fastball away and my slider in," said Rzepczynski, who went 5-0 with a 2.76 ERA in 11 regular-season outings for Auburn. "I just tried to treat it as a normal start. I'm not the kind of guy that gets too pumped up."
Farina allowed one hit while fanning seven of the nine batters he faced for his first playoff save.
The Auburn offense broke out early, scoring twice in the opening frame on back-to-back RBI singles by Bradley Emaus and J.P Arencibia.
Manuel Rodriguez lined a run-scoring double in the third, Emaus belted a solo homer and Victor Santana ripped an RBI single in the sixth, and Benjamin Zeskind came home on a balk by reliever Rudy Darrow in the seventh to cap the scoring.
"I think we put some good swings on the ball," said Emaus, who went 3-for-4. "We had some good two-out approaches and just took advantage of [Tigers starter Guillermo Moscoso's] mistakes. The guy's got really good stuff and we just did a good job."
Moscoso (0-1), who represented Oneonta at the league's All-Star Game, surrendered four runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. He did not walk a batter.
Justin Henry went 2-for-4 for the Tigers, who did not advance a runner beyond second base.
Game 3 is Tuesday at Falcon Park.
"I think no matter which playoff game you're playing, there's still some pressure because every game matters," said Emaus. "I think we just went out there and had a good game."
Evan Mohl is an associate reporter for MLB.com.