Kings hang on to beat Brewers, 9-6

After blowing a 4-1 lead midway through the game, the Budweiser Kings added five runs in the final four innings to earn their seventh win of the season over the D’s Diner Brewers and maintained sole possession of first place in the Budweiser Saipan Major League.

The Kings used a one-two punch from the mound to KO the Brew crew at Tan Ko Field as slinger Ray Dela Cruz and James Kintol denied the Brewers a comeback late in the contest. Dela Cruz allowed the first four of the runs off of eight hits through six innings before rookie reliever Kintol came in to close out the final three surrendering two runs off of a pair of hits.

Tony Celis continued to lead by example as the multi-positional threat strung together a handful of singles and drove in a run to finish 4-for-5 on the day, and his teammates followed suit from the batter’s box.

Centerfielder Jon Villagomez went 2-for-3 with two singles and two runs batted in, and the slugger put the needs of his team ahead of his personal goals by laying down a sacrifice bunt and knocking a pair of sac flies.

J.R. Suel had a solid day at the plate as well with a 3-for-4 performance that yielded a pair of singles, a double, and a pair of ribbies.

The Kings took a 4-1 lead after one and a half innings and looked to have control of the game but catcher Brewers’ Manny Sablan changed all of that with one swing of the bat as he jacked a three-run homerun over the right field fence in the bottom of the fifth to even the game at four apiece.

That’s as close as the Brew crew would get as the Kings added a run in their next three at bats and added a pair in the top of the ninth to take a 9-4 lead. The Brewers tried to get a rally going in the bottom of the ninth but were only able to manage a pair of runs before Dane Lizama flied to third to end the game.

The win gave the Kings (7-2) a one game advantage over the idle Northern Yankees (6-3) and pushed their lead over the defending champion Ford Rangers (5-3) to two games while the Brewers slid further below the .500 mark to 4-6.

The season continues at Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field this weekend when the Yankees take on the Rangers at 2pm this Saturday, May 27, while the Kings battle the beleaguered Masters on Sunday, May 28, at 2pm.