Story By Marcelo Figueroa
Hideki Irabu tied a season high with nine strikeouts but took the loss as Long Beach fell to the St. George Roadrunners 3-2 Tuesday night at Blair Field. The Armada is now 2-6 in the second half and 22-24 on the season.
Long Beach jumped out in front with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first. Napoleon Calzado singled before stealing second and advancing to third on a bad throw from catcher Jose Rodriguez. Andy Bouchie followed with a base hit of his own to push across Calzado, giving the Fleet the 1-0 lead at the end of an inning of play.
Irabu got off to a terrific start from the hill. He allowed just one hit through the first three innings of play while striking out four.
The Fleet would add to its lead in the bottom of the third. Back-to-back singles from Brandon Howard and Josh Womack put runners at first and second with no outs. Omar Bramasco bunted the runners over to put runners in scoring position with one out. Calzado hit a deep fly ball to advance both runners, bringing in Howard from third to give the Armada the 2-0 lead at the end of three innings.
Irabu continued his dominance in the top of the fourth, striking out the side for the second time in the game. Through 4 IP he recorded seven strikeouts.
The Roadrunners would get one run back in the top of the fifth. Cody Nowlin walked and Angel Sanchez was hit by a pitch to put two runners on with nobody out. A sac bunt and sac fly later Nowlin crossed the plate to cut the Armada lead to 2-1 at the end of five innings.
St. George claimed its first lead of the night in the top of the sixth. With one out Ruddy Yan singled. Irabu then balked to allow him to move over to second base. An out later Rodriguez doubled to left, driving in Yan to tie the game up at 2-2. Designated hitter Cody Nowlin singled in the go-ahead run giving St. George the 3-2 lead at the end of six innings.
Both bullpens did a good job in relief to keep the game at 3-2 going into the ninth.
The Fleet had the 3-4-5 hitters up in the last of the ninth against St. George closer Bartolome Fortunato. He retired the side in order to hold off the Armada 3-2.
Jose Lima will take the hill for Long Beach in the second game of the series on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.