BANDITS LOSE SUSPENDED GAME IN EXTRAS
Sydney walks off in the 15th inning in the first game of Friday’s day-night doubleheader
Boss Moanaroa hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 15th inning Friday to give the Blue Sox the first win in the five-game set against the Bandits at Blue Sox Stadium.
In a hard-fought battle of the bullpens, John Veitch (1-1) suffered the loss for Brisbane, back on in the 15th after a three-up-three-down 14th inning. In combination with Justin Erasmus, Chris Lamb, Sean Jarrett and Jon Durket, the Bandits ‘pen went 6 1/3 innings, giving up only that one earned run on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Brisbane looked to be in trouble in the 12th inning with new import Jarrett on the hill. Rory Rhodes came up with a game-saving throw to home to get Jacob Younis out on an attempt to make it from second base on a Joseph Hage single. With two outs and runners on first and third, Jarrett was taken out of the game in favour of southpaw Jon Durket who ended the threat with a fly out.
The Bandits got off to an early start Thursday night, putting one on the board to take into the remainder of the game on Friday morning. After two straight singles to Brad Dutton and Josh Roberts in the top of the first, Blue Sox starter Craig Anderson (1-1) issued a walk to Rory Rhodes to load the bases. David Sutherland grabbed an RBI with a groundout, giving Brisbane the early 1-0 lead.
That was where the game would remain for the night however, as an electrical failure caused a stoppage in play. Yohei Yanagawa threw two innings before the electricity shut everything down, allowing no hits, no runs, walking one, hitting a batter and striking out two.
Yanagawa (1-0) was replaced by Alex Maestri for the second part of the suspended game, coming on in the bottom of the third inning. The Italian right-hander continued the no-hitter his Japanese counterpart had started into the bottom of the fifth.
Brisbane added to its total in the top half of the fifth inning against Blue Sox starter of the day Todd Grattan, courtesy of a leadoff walk to Wade Dutton and back-to-back singles to Taisei Makihara and the elder Dutton brother. Brad Dutton picked up a one-out RBI to give the Bandits a 2-0 lead.
Maestri didn’t allow a ball past the infield until Michael Lysaught got ahold of one, but he followed it up with a double-play ball, still facing the minimum for the inning in the fifth. Sydney threatened in the sixth with a Tyler Collins double followed by a two-out two-base hit from Mitch Dening to score him, cutting Brisbane’s lead in half.
The Dutton brothers brought the Bandits further ahead in the seventh. Wade Dutton was given a free pass with one out, moved to second on an error, and then to third courtesy of a Makihara single. His brother notched another RBI on the day with a sacrifice fly, putting the visitors ahead by two once again.
Brisbane’s lead was short-lived though as the Blue Sox came back in the bottom of the eighth with two runs. Dening hit a one-out RBI double, cutting the lead and leaving runners on second and third. Maestri intentionally walked Boss Moanaroa to load the bases and then hit Alex Johnson with a pitch to plate another. The Blue Sox couldn’t capitalize any further as Dening was thrown out at home for the final out of the inning and the 3-3 score held for the next seven innings.
Sydney’s bullpen proved slightly more effective than Brisbane’s with Matthew Williams throwing 3.0 innings allowing only one walk. Matthew Rae (1-0) earned his first decision of the season, coming on for the final four innings, striking out four.
The teams will play the second game of the day at 6:30PM local time Friday, followed by another doubleheader Saturday, with the rubber match on Sunday.