Rangers take Tacoma to truck town

The Ford Rangers proved once again that they are the undisputed king of baseball-playing trucks in the Saipan Major League as they dispatched their Japanese import rivals 11-5 at Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field on Wednesday night to hand the Toyota Tacoma their seventh loss of the season.

Rangers pitcher J.P. Flores threw a wrench into the Tacoma plans by fanning four and allowing four runs off of six hits through five innings before reliever Chris Nelson took the hill in the bottom of the sixth to finish the job. Were it not for a flubbed foul ball in the bottom of the fifth that could have ended the inning early, Flores may have left the field with a bigger cushion.

Nelson fanned five would-be hitters in four innings on the mound with only a run and four hits against him, and the run came on an error as well.

On the other side of the plate, second baseman Joey Dela Cruz led the charge for the Rangers with a 2-for-4 performance with a pair of singles and a walk. Dela Cruz scored three times and stole a base and has shown a marked increase in base running since shedding some unwanted pounds in the off-season.

Catcher Craig Sanchez called another great game from behind the plate for the Rangers, and picked up a bat to slug a two-run single in the top of the fifth that drove in Dela Cruz and Jonathan Delos Santos.

J.J. Laniyo also tallied a pair of ribbies for the Rangers when he singled Sanchez and Dung Tenorio to put the cap on the fifth inning flurry.

After trailing 1-0 after the first two innings, the Rangers scored three runs off of three hits in the top of the third to take control of the game. The silver and black attack never looked back, as they added another six runs off of four hits in the top of the fifth inning, but they received plenty of help from the Tacoma in the form of three walks—all of which were converted into runs.

With two outs in the can, Toyota hurler McGregory Camacho found himself in the same hole that he dug in the second inning by loading the bases with a walk. Unlike the second, Camacho was not able to harmlessly retire the side. Fatigue began to settle in as Camacho surrendered three consecutive hits that allowed the Rangers to take a commanding 9-1 lead before he was pulled in favor of reliever Jesse Celis.

Celis gave up a hit and a pair of runs that were charged to Camacho, but got the Tacoma out of the inning two batters later. Three one-two-three innings later the Tacoma were trailing 9-4, but the Rangers added a pair of runs in the top of the ninth off of Toyota miscues, and the game ended 11-5.

The win improved their record to 7-1 and put the Rangers ahead of the Northern Yankees (6-1) in the race for the pennant, and a half game ahead of the Miller Lite Brewers at 7-2. The Rangers have yet to face the Yankees, but the two single-loss powers are on a collision course set for this Saturday when they are scheduled for a rare weekend edition game at 6:30pm at Tan Ko field.BRAD E. RUSZALA