MANILA - Ernesto Binarao could only look down at the grass as he walked dejectedly toward the dugout. The nation's top hurler had just given up a tie-breaking walk-off homerun to Virgilio Roxas in the bottom of the 10th inning that lifted the Manila Sharks to a thrilling 2-1 victory over Forward Taguig on Sunday and sent Taguig to its fourth defeat in five games while Manila picked up its third straight win.
It was yet another piece of Philippine sporting lore at the historic Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
In terms of sheer drama and excitement, this game should go down as the greatest regular season game in Philippine baseball.
Manila right-hander Charlie Labrador was locked in a classic pitcher's duel with Taguig left-handers Roel Empacis followed by Binarao as neither team could score through eight innings of play. Both teams however traded runs in a dramatic ninth inning.
Taguig, the worst offensive team in the circuit with just nine runs scored this season, finally broke the scoreless spell atop the ninth inning when Rizel Santos roped a two-out grounder off Labrador just beyond the reach of shortstop Larry Icban into left field enabling Ferdinand Recto to score from second base. Recto had reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a Rommel Roja passed ball. Julius Visaya then struck out for the third time in the game and the teams headed into the bottom of the ninth with Taguig nursing that 1-0 lead.
Manila, the circuit's next to worst run-producing team, likewise manufactured a run of its own. Roja atoned for his miscue with a lead-off infield hit. Christian Galledo then lofted a pop-up to the first base side of home plate which Santos dropped, or so it seemed to Taguig first baseman Alejandro Velasquez, who was backing up the play.
Velasquez detested home plate umpire Olan Arceo's judgement call, contesting that Santos had already made the catch and was in the act of throwing (to possibly pick-off Roja) when the ball fell. A disgruntled Arceo promptly responded by ejecting Velasquez, who was 3-for-4 at the plate and the only Forward with any consistent contact against Labrador, further making things dismal for the run-starved Forward line-up.
That prompted Forward skipper Dennis Daep to reluctantly shuffle his fielders; moving Roel Empacis from center field to first base, Alvin Bernardino (who had just substituted Gary Ejercito in right field) from right to center, and bringing in a relatively inexperienced Michael Solis in right.
Galledo would then strikeout. As if by some stroke of karma, Icban followed with a long drive to right center field which Solis dropped on the run, putting runners at the corners with one out. Binarao then struck out Bambol Servo for what could have been the third out had Velasquez not been ejected and the more experienced players fielding their positions.
Marvin Malig followed with a clean single to center to tie the game. But Joey Guerrero struck out to end the rally and set up the first extra inning game in the young history of Baseball Philippines.
"Malaking bagay ang pagkawala ni Andoy [Velasquez]. Na-apekto ang laro pagkatapos (Losing Andoy was a big thing. It affected the game later on," said Daep after being forced to shuffle his fielders in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Taguig however would go down in order in the 10th against Labrador.
That set the stage for Roxas as he drilled Binarao's second offering — an off-speed pitch that Roxas happened to be sitting on — for a towering shot into the left field pavilion bringing the Sharks out of the dugout and jumping en masse for joy around home plate to congratulate their slugger. It was Roxas' circuit-leading second homerun of the season.
"Alam kong ma-one time ko rin at inaabang ko ang off-speed niya (I knew I was eventually going to hit [Binarao] hard one time and I was anticipating his off-speed pitch at that)," said Roxas after, noting that he had struck out in his previous at bat when Binarao set him up on the same pitch sequence.
In going the distance for the second time in as many games, Labrador gave up seven hits, an unearned run, did not walk a batter, and struck out a season-high eleven including the last two Forward hitters in the tenth frame. In his last 19 innings, the right-hander has a 0.47 earned run average and 18 strikeouts without issuring a free pass.
"Kagabi sinasabi ko sa sarili na dapat kong sundan and plano kong gawin sa laro... Kahit napapagod na ako pagtuntong ng mga huling inning, nakisuyo ako sa mga kasama ko na huwag bumigay, magtulungan lang tayo at magagawa natin ng paraan itong laro (Last night I was telling myself to stick to my game plan... Even as I was tiring towards the late innings, I reached out to my teammates and told them not to give up, pick up one another and we will find a way to win this game)," said Labrador after weaving his first extra inning masterpiece.
Empacis went four shutout innings, walked two and struck out four, but gave way due to fatigue. Binarao wound up the losing pitcher after tossing six innings of six-hit relief, coughing up two runs and two walks while striking out eight.
Manila left nine runners on base and was held hitless until Roxas, who started on the bench, singled with two outs in the sixth.
Both teams had squandered golden opportunities in the game.
The Sharks had runners at second and third with one out in both the second and seventh innings but could not cash in, while the Forward also had runners in scoring position with one out in the seventh but could not solve Labrador.
| Sun, Nov 4, 2007 | |||||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
| Taguig | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Manila | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| WP: Labrador (2-1) LP: BinaraoE (1-2) | |||||||||||||