Sharks pitching duo grounds Patriots
Shortstop Christian Galledo (right) of the Manila Sharks pivots to turn a double play as Melvin De Castro of the Forward Taguig Patriots slides into second base in the seventh inning. (Photo - Joseph Ventura)
Sharks 11, Patriots 1
MANILA - The Manila Sharks' right-handed pitching tandem of Charlie Labrador and Romeo Jasmin were dealing again as the pair stifled the already anemic bats of the Forward Taguig Patriots in an 11-1 rout Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Week 2 of BP Series 3.
Labrador and Jasmin reversed roles this time with the former getting his first start of '08. Arguably the nation's top right-handed hurler, Labrador was in command from the outset, locating and mixing his pitches enough to befuddle the Patriots; the only blemish being an Ernesto Binarao homerun that barely cleared the right field wall in the second inning to give the Patriots a brief 1-0 lead.
Labrador tossed six innings of four-hit ball, struck out five and walked two. Jasmin followed with a pair of scoreless frames yielding but two singles.
It was the second weekend in a row Taguig held an early one run lead and outhit the opposition, albeit marginally, but wound up on the losing end yet again as its hitters could not get runners across the plate past the second inning.
The Patriots had only one runner reach third base outside of the Binarao homer and grounded into a pair of double plays.
Last season, Taguig was held to two or fewer runs in a game a league high six times, including three shutouts. It certainly does not bode well for a team to win that many games if its offense cannot produce.
The Sharks meanwhile were leaving nothing to chance, stranding only five runners on base and getting clutch hits.
Joey Guerrero's two out, two-run double off losing pitcher Ronald Delos Reyes in the bottom of the second inning gave Manila a lead it would continue to pad as the game wore on.
Manila added three more runs in the third on a one out rbi-double by Marvin Malig that sent Delos Reyes to the showers and a gift-wrapped two out, two-run error by 2B Ryan Garcia to increase its lead to 5-1.
Taguig did waste another solid pitching effort from Binarao. The southpaw surrendered only three hits over 5 1/3 innings in relief of Delos Reyes, striking out four and did not walk a batter.
A pair of errors by the Patriots in the sixth allowed two more runs to score.
The Sharks placed the finishing touches on the Patriots behind a four-run eighth inning rally off reliever Mark Solis courtesy of Jake Ilao's two-run single, C Melvin De Castro's passed ball, and Nino Tator's sacrifice fly to cut the game short by the mercy rule.
BOXSCORE
| Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium |
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| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Taguig | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 6 | 5 |
| Manila | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | x | 11 | 7 | 2 |
| WP: Labrador (1-0 ) LP: DelosReyes (0-2) | ||||||||||||
| Taguig | ||||||
| BATTING | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO |
| Recto, LF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hardillo, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Velasquez, DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Faustino | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| JimenezR, 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| SantosR, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Binarao, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Siacor, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Samiano | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DeCastro, C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Garcia, 2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 30 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| E: Jimenez, Garcia 2, Hardillo 2 2B: Recto HR: Binarao LOB: 7 |
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| PITCHING | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| DelosReyes (L, 0-2) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| BinaraoE | 5.1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Solis | 0.1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 7.2 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| HBP: Gammaru (by Solis) WP: BinaraoE, Solis |
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| Manila | ||||||
| BATTING | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO |
| Candella, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ilao | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Galledo, SS | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Tator, 3B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Roja, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Malig, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| LandichoE, DH | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Inobio, CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bumagat | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gammaru, LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dimaculangan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Guerrero, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| LandichoRog | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 33 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| E: Tator, Malig CS: Candella SB: Ilao 2, Galledo SF: Tator 2B: Candella, Malig, Gammaru, Guerrero, LandichoRog LOB: 5 |
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| PITCHING | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Labrador (W, 1-0) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Jasmin | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Official box score approved by Baseball Philippines Office of the Commissioner