Rangers rally to take Game 2

After trailing most of the night at Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field, the Ford Rangers tied the Northern Yankees by taking advantage of a slew of errors before tying the Saipan Major League Championship Series at a game apiece when speedy John B. Reyes crossed home plate in the bottom of the eighth inning for the go ahead run.

Excessive errant plays and Reyes’ base running plagued the pennant champs from the outset, as the Rangers scored four runs off of errors and the shortstop stole four bases. Despite hitting 1-for-3, Reyes reached base on two walks that resulted in both of his scores, but he wasn’t the only one who experienced success on the field.

Roy “the Rocket” Celis survived a rough start on the mound to keep the Rangers in the game, as the hurler allowed five runs off of nine hits through the first five innings before Craig Sanchez came out to blank the Yankees in the final four with seven hits.

The Rangers got a boost from the bat of Peter Tomokane who went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI singles while Jerome Delos Santos was nearly perfect with a 3-for-4 performance and two scores.

Errors played the key role as the Rangers got plenty of help from the pinstripers, and despite being out-hit, 16-9, the trucks never gave up and hung around long enough to even the series.

The Yankees were the first to get on the board when Luis Iguel singled in Tony Camacho in the top of the second, but the Rangers answered in their next at bat when Delos Santos took advantage of a rare miscue by Clifton Silil to cross home plate.

Silil got the redemption he sought in the top of the third when he scored on an error to regain the lead, 2-1, and standout slugger Mel Sakisat singled in Robert Bansil to take a 3-1 advantage.

JJ Laniyo pulled the Rangers to within one when he scored in the bottom of the fourth, but four consecutive hits gave the Yankees a 5-2 lead and spelled the end for Celis.

The three-run advantage quickly dissolved as Tomokane picked up his first RBI when he singled in Reyes, and successive errors scored Joey Dela Cruz and Delos Santos to even the score at five apiece.

The Yankees regrouped, however, in the seventh when Greg F. Camacho singled in Sakisat for the 6-5 lead, but Tomokane drilled in his second RBI in the bottom of the eighth by singling in Mario Sablan before Reyes reached on another Silil error for the final tally of the night.

If the sun comes with rays-a-blazin’ this afternoon, Game 3 of the best-of-five series will continue tonight at Francisco M. Palacios field at 6pm, but with the coming tropical storm bearing down on the Marianas, it looks more like it’ll be a while before the finals resume.