THE Pirates are now one game away from successfully defending their title for the second consecutive season after securing game 1 with a 29-18 victory over the Brewers in the SBL Masters League Championship Series at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field on Monday night.
It was truly a championship game as both teams gave it their all, scoring runs in nearly every inning.
In the first inning, the Brewers’ Jerome Delos Santos turned a walk into a run by stealing his way to third base. His teammate Hector Efraim’s sacrifice fly to left field allowed Delos Santos to score before the Pirates recorded the final two outs.
In the bottom half, the Pirates took control of the lead after Mark Toves’ single became a scored run thanks to Pete Tomokane’s RBI double. Four more runs followed, courtesy of Derek Sasamoto’s three-RBI triple, further stretching their team’s lead to 5-1.
The Brewers scored four runs in the second inning, but the Pirates kept the momentum going in the bottom half with nine runs of their own — three of which came off errors — to maintain the lead, 14-5.
Throughout the next three innings, the Brewers delivered eight more runs, but the Pirates scored seven runs to remain afloat, 21-13.
In the sixth inning, the Pirates shut down the Brewers and capitalized on errors, scoring eight runs to take a double-digit lead, 29-13.
With only one inning left to play, the Brewers went all out, scoring five runs, highlighted by Byron Kaipat’s three-run homer. However, it wasn’t enough to mount a late-game comeback as the Pirates collected the three outs needed to seal the victory, 29-18, and secure game 1 of the best-of-three championship series.
Game 2 will be played today, Wednesday, Feb. 26, with the Pirates aiming to secure the title and the Brewers looking to extend the series.
The umpire signals “safe” as Pirates’ Joey Dela Cruz makes contact while sliding into home plate for a scored run against the Brewers in game 1 of the SBL Masters League Championship Series at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field on Monday night.
Photo by James F. Sablan Jr.
Pirates second baseman Barry Maratita fields the grounder against the Brewers in game 1 of the SBL Masters League Championship Series at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field on Monday night.
Pirates’ JJ Laniyo pitches against the Brewers in game 1 of the SBL Masters League Championship Series at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field on Monday night.
