Report by the Armada’s Marcelo Figueroa

Irabumania took over Blair Field as Hideki Irabu picked up his fifth win in the rubber match against the Yuma Scorpions on Thursday night. Long Beach won the game 2-1, improving to 5-8 in the second half and 25-26 overall.

Irabu worked his way out of a first inning jam. After Deivis Rivadeneira and Adolfo Gomez led off the game with back-to-back singles, Irabu induced a double play and a foul out to get out of the inning unharmed.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third. With one out Brandon Howard reached base on an error by first baseman Reynaldo Rodriguez. He then stole second for Jonny Kaplan, who singled to left to plate Howard. At the end of three innings, Long Beach led Yuma 1-0.

Irabu was dominant through five innings of work. He allowed just three hits while striking out three to keep the Armada lead at 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth.

With two outs in the home half of the fifth, Jonny Kaplan sliced a ball down the right field line. The speedy Kaplan rounded second base with a head of steam and headed for third. Yuma right fielder Carlos Villalobos overthrew the cutoff man, and Kaplan was able to score on a rare inside-the-park homerun. This pushed the Armada lead 2-0 at the end of five innings of play.

Yuma answered in the top of the sixth when Rivadeneira singled with one out and moved to second on a fielder’s choice. Carlos Arroyo singled up the middle to cut the Long Beach lead to 2-1.

Irabu would continue his strong pitching through eight innings of work, finishing his night with a line of 8 IP, 7 H, R, BB and 4 Ks.

Koichi Misawa came in to shut the door on the Scorpions in the top of the ninth. He struggled a bit, putting runners on the corners with two outs but finished off the game in style, striking out William Hernandez to end the game.

It’s Lima Time tomorrow night as Long Beach hits the road to face the Chico Outlaws in a three game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.