GAMEDAY RECAP
Mariners End Skid With Convincing Win Over Dolphins
Mariners 7, Dolphins 3
MANILA - The bleeding finally stopped for the Makati Mariners.
Badly in need of a a win after being outscored 25-10 during a three-game skid and in danger of further lowering esprit de corps in the clubhouse, the Mariners regained their winning form in convincing fashion by silencing the potent Dolphins offensive machine with a 7-3 win over Cebu.
Left-handed ace Jon-Jon Robles bounced back from a couple of rough outings and kept the Dolphins in check throughout most of the game. He went the distance, gave up ten hits, three runs, walked one and struck out eight to pick up his third win of the season.
The meat of the order likewise came through offensively for the Mariners. Wilfredo Hidalgo, Alden Lozada, and Robles — the 3-4-5 hitters — combined to go 7-for-14 with five runs batted in and scored five times off two Dolphins pitchers.
Robles stayed the course before running out of steam in the ninth when Cebu mounted a serious rally and was on the verge of a big inning.
Leading 7-1, the southpaw gave up consecutive base hits to Miggy Corcuera, Jerome Bacarisas, and Ruben Angeles. A pair of defensive miscues allowed Corcuera and Bacarisas to narrow the Mariners lead to 7-3. Robles then walked Joseph Orillana, putting runners in scoring position with no outs.
But the left-hander reached back and struck out Seung Jun Ha and Emerson Atilano then got Fulgencio Rances on a pop-up to first to seal the victory.
Bacarisas started on the mound for Cebu and was pitching for the first time this season. He took the loss after coughing up five runs, two earned, on seven hits, a walk, and two strikeouts. Orillana, the projected starter, fell victim to the seven o'clock curse, but pitched in relief and gave up four hits, two runs, and struck out three.
Makati opened the scoring in the first inning when Erwin Manuel scored on Robles' sacrifice fly.
The Mariners added two more runs in the fourth when Hidalgo, who led off with a single and stole second, scooted home on shortstop Ruben Angeles' fielding error and Robles followed suit on a Chris Canlas rbi-double.
Cebu countered with its first run in the bottom half of the fourth when Corcuera singled, and out later scored on catcher Hidalgo's throwing error.
Makati built its lead to 5-1 in the fifth. Francis Candella collected a one-out single, stole second, and trotted home on a two-out rbi-double by Hidalgo. Lozada followed with a run-scoring single that effectively sent Bacarisas to the showers.
The Mariners pushed across a run each in the seventh and ninth innings on an rbi-double by Robles and an rbi-single by Lozada, his league-leading ninth of the season.
GAMEDAY
| Sun, Nov 11, 2007 | ||||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Makati | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 3 |
| Cebu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 5 |
| WP: Robles (3-2) LP: BacarisasJ (0-1) | ||||||||||||