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Blue Jays slip past Rockies
A Blue Jays batter waits for a pitch from the Rockies during their season debut game in the 2019 Saipan Baseball League last Saturday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfied. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
The Blue Jays won their season debut in the 2019 Saipan Baseball League after outclassing the Rockies, 9-7, last Saturday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfied.
Pitcher Noel Cabrera powered the Blue Jays past the Rockies after scoring five RBIs and going 2-for-3 at bat. His two-run homer at the bottom of the sixth inning allowed the Blue Jays to grab the lead and they hung on to it at the top of the seventh, as the Rockies failed to score.
Before Cabrera’s big hit, the Rockies were ahead, 7-5. The Rockies got three runs in the first inning—one earned—and another earned in the third before adding two in the fourth off the Blue Jays’ errors, while the last run was off a passed ball in the fifth.
The Blue Jays, on the other hand, made it to the board off Cabrera’s two-run single in the second, notched two more off the Rockies’ miscues in the third, and the fifth one off a fielder’s choice at the bottom of the fifth to face a two-run deficit.
The scores remained the same at the top of the sixth, as the Rockies leadoff batter was called for a 6-3 output play and Greg Sablan was left stranded at second when both Austin Benavente and B.J. Guerrero flied out at centerfield.
Then at the bottom of the sixth, Blue Jays leadoff batter Ariel Mendiola advanced off a Rockies’ error, while Andres Camacho singled. Cabrera batted third and brought home with him Mendiola and Camacho to put the Blue Jays in the driver’s seat, 8-7. Emory Fitial added one more run, as he made it to first off another Rockies’ booboo, and stole second and third before reaching home, as catcher Greg Sablan fumbled. Chris Myers, who replaced T.J. Dela Cruz after Cabrera’s homer, struck out Koby Foreman and Ben Lizama, while James Salalila went down on a 6-3 putout play to end the sixth inning with the Rockies needing to score at least two runs in the seventh to extend the match.
They didn’t, as Cabrera fanned leadoff batter Keoni Lizama. Larson Sibetang then was stuck at first when the Blue Jays made a double play, as Dela Cruz flied out at leftfield and Myers was beaten at first.
