Sanchez sends Yankees south, 6-4

Craig Sanchez stymied the hardest hitting team in the Saipan Major League as the pitcher went the distance for the Ford Rangers in their 6-4 victory over the Northern Yankees on Wednesday night at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

Sanchez spread out 10 hits over the course of the nine-inning game, fanned four, and got a lot of help from his fielders in the form of a pair of double plays early on and allowed four runs off of 10 hits.

The hits cam a little easier for the Yankees in the end, as Sanchez’s two runs off of four hits in the final two innings combined, but the Rangers stuck with their starter and were rewarded when Sanchez caught John M. Reyes’ fly ball in the bottom of the ninth inning to end the game.

“Craig is a really good pitcher, but he doesn’t pitch a lot because [the Rangers] have a lot of good arms,” said league statistician Ray Palacios.

Sanchez wouldn’t have got the win if his team didn’t outscore the Yankees though, and he received run support from his teammates as well as his opponent. The Rangers scored six runs off of a combined six hits, but the Yankees committed four errors that led to runs, and even walked in a run when Roy Celis crossed home plate after second baseman Jason Gay took ball four.

Right fielder J.J. Laniyo led the Rangers offense with a solid 2-for-4 performance at the plate that yielded a pair of singles, but Pete Tomokane’s 1-for-2 was a little more productive, as the third baseman singles, drew three walks, and scored twice.

Tomokane also stole a base for the Rangers, but he was alone in his life of crime as his teammates were twice caught with taking extra long lead-offs.

The loss sent the Yankees into a tie with the defending champion Miller Lite Brewers at 10-2, and the two will face off on Monday, June 27, to determine the fate of the 2005 SML pennant.

The Rangers are assured of a third-place finish in the standings at 8-3, and will face the second-seeded squad in the finals, while the fourth place Bud Kings await the pennant champs in the post season.

All of the SML action continues tonight as the Freedom Air Masters (2-9) finish their season against the Toyota Tacoma (3-8) at Tan Ko Field at 6:30pm, and the Rangers return to the Oleai facility to face the Budweiser Kings tomorrow night to finish their 4-4 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning.