Mavs a win away

By Sean Rooney on August 14, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

One more win and the title is theirs.

The Medicine Hat Mavericks beat the Regina Red Sox 6-4 Monday at Athletic Park, taking a 2-0 lead in the Western Major Baseball League’s best-of-five championship series to Saskatchewan Tuesday with the hopes of a late-night ride home to remember.

“We’ve still got to take care of business (in Regina), we’ll see what happens,” said Sal Rodriguez, whose three-run first-inning home run brought the crowd to its feet and the Mavericks one blow closer to their third league crown.

It won’t be easy, with Regina counting on the perseverance that got them to the finals. They’ve led each of the first two games only to see the home side fire back.

“There’s never any panic when it comes to baseball,” said Red Sox coach Mitch MacDonald, who will throw Kyle Wilson against Medicine Hat’s Jumpei Akunama in Game 3. “Each game is a brand new animal.

“It’s one game at a time, all we’ve got to do is win one.”

In what could’ve been the last game of the season on their home turf, the Mavs took an early lead and never looked back.

For the second night in a row the Red Sox got on the board first. Wesley Moss ran out an infield hit, Louie Canjura threw wildly to first baseman Zack Gray who bumped heads with Jahshua Jones, and Danny Hunt added a two-out, two-run single off starter Matt Brooks for a three-run lead. Both Gray and Jones were OK.

But just as they did Sunday, the Mavs made fans forget they ever trailed. With two outs and a full count in the bottom of the first, Sal Rodriguez smashed a Dylan Bells offering over the centre-field wall to an absolute roar from the capacity crowd of 1,821.

“His curveball wasn’t extremely sharp and the fastball wasn’t anything I felt would beat me, so I knew seeing a bunch of pitches … I was really just trying to get the ball on the big part of the field,” said Rodriguez. “Luckily I got a good piece of it — had a little scare when the centre-fielder took his leap … but nothing but adrenaline after that.”

Canjura added a two-out RBI single and Medicine Hat never trailed again. A second-inning rally helped by a Sox throwing error and hits from David Salgueiro and Carson Johnson added two more runs in the second.

Brooks Stotler had a two-out RBI in the third for Regina, but the Mavs wasted even less time responding than in the first. Salgueiro threw out Hunt at third base to end the inning mere seconds after Erik Crossman had crossed home plate.

Both starting pitchers settled in for the middle innings, with Brooks lasting six, striking out as many, and Bells going 6 1/3, striking out eight.

Then it was the Mavs bullpen dominating the late innings. Junior Pimentel hit a batter and walked the bases loaded in the seventh, but induced a ground out. Sean Cruz threw a 1-2-3 eighth ending with a leaping catch from Canjura at third. Tyler Shumpert then got Phil Langlois to fly out to left-fielder Jaxson Hooge to finish a perfect ninth.

Mavericks relievers have now combined to give up just six runs in 37 innings in the post-season.

“That’s just unbelievable,” said Shumpert, who has three saves in the playoffs. “We haven’t even used half our ‘pen. We’re all just feeling great, and it’s the last series so … we’re pumped up.”

Regina will look to force Game 4 at Currie Field Wednesday, and if they can win both home games, Game 5 would be Thursday back in Medicine Hat.

Needless to say, the Mavs would rather get it done sooner.

“Of course we love the fans, we love playing here, but we don’t plan on coming back here,” said Rodriguez. “I feel nothing but comfortable and confident with the team, I think we’ll take care of business.”

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