Pirates spoil Brewers pennant dreams

The Miller Lite Brewers missed out on a golden opportunity to compete for the pennant Wednesday night, when they dropped a 7-5 decision to the Pirates in continuation of Saipan Major League Baseball at Francisco M. Palacios baseball field.

The scoring went back and forth throughout the night, but in the sixth inning, sluggers of the black and gold took the lead for good when Tony Lizama crossed the plate to put them ahead 5-4.

The Brewers fell to 8-4 and are now focusing on the playoffs, where they will face the Pirates in a best-of-three series to see who will face last year’s champions, the Northern Yankees. Had they won, the Brewers would have evened their record with the Yankees and would be heading into a one-game playoff for the pennant.

The game on the schedule was actually between the Pirates and the D9ers, but there was a request from the D9ers to switch the schedule to Friday night. The change was made, but the Brewers were missing four of their starters because they didn’t get the word. The Pirates players were not expecting the Brewers to be there either.

The game got underway as pitcher Jerome Delos Santos walked centerfielder Roy Celis to give the Brew Crew their first base runner. He would eventually fall victim to a 4-3 double play off of the stick of Brewers shortstop JR Suel, but second baseman Tony Celis would later score when left fielder Tony Camacho doubled him in.

The Pirates answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning when Joey Dela Cruz picked up his first RBI by driving home centerfielder James Flemming.

The second inning was pretty quiet, but the Pirates got things going again in the third, as Lizama found his way home courtesy of a Brewers error. The Brewers were still in a giving mood in the fourth inning as well, allowing Craig Sanchez to be the ‘Rates third score.

Tony Celis and Suel gave their team new life as the Brewers came roaring back to tie the game in the fifth. They took the lead back from the black and gold when Roy Celis singled Ray Seman in in the top of the sixth inning.

Down 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Pirates started their rally when Fleming led off the inning with a single. Lizama followed suit with a single, Tomokane grounded to third, and Joey Dela Cruz cranked in a pair of RBI’s when he hit the duo home off of his single.

Roy Celis came in to finish it off for the Brewers, but the lead was already back in the hands of the Pirates. After giving up a pair of hits and allowing John Reyes to score, Celis got the Crew out of the inning.

Manny Sablan led off the eighth for the Brewers by getting plunked by Delos Santos. He would eventually make it home, but that’s as close as the Brewers would get, as the Pirates would score one more in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 7-5 ball game.

The 6-5 Pirates do battle with the 0-11 D9ers tonight in the final game of the make-up schedule to end the season. Catch all of the action at Francisco M. Palacios field. First pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 6:30pm.