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Kings cruise past Rangers, 4-2
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Posted on May 02 2006
The Budweiser Kings continued on their collision course with the pennant by roughing up the Ford Rangers, 4-2, on Sunday as the Budweiser Saipan Major League’s youngest squad prevailed on the strengths of one of the youngest pitchers.
James Kintol continued to show why he was selected to attend the Baseball Confederation of Oceania’s training camp in New Zealand as he went the distance for the Kings allowing just two unearned runs off of five hits in his first start to maintain his 0.00 earned run average through five games and 13 innings.
Making the mark even more notable is that Kintol making the island’s top men miss and is still playing in the Saipan Little League Baseball Association for the Big League Pirates.
The young pitcher received plenty of assistance from fellow young gunner A.J. Allen, who drove in a run and finished 2-for-4 on the day, but veteran slugger Byron Kaipat was the king of Kings with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate that yielded three singles and a run batted in.
The Delos Santos brothers continued to produce as Jonathan went 1-for-4 with a base hit and big brother Jerome went 1-for-3 with a base knock on a day when hits came at a premium.
The Kings were only able to generate seven hits on the day because big pitcher Joe Guerrero was a menace on the mound, allowing just one earned run and fanning four through eight innings on the hill.
The first-place Kings (6-1) took the lead in the bottom of the second when they broke a scoreless tie and added another tally in the sixth, but the Rangers (4-3) pulled to within one run when they shattered their goose egg in the top of the eighth.
The Kings followed with a pair in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-1 advantage and Kintol allowed just one more runner to score in the top of the ninth before closing the door on the defending champs.
