Well, you don’t see that very often.
Even though they weren’t able to collect a single hit, the Cabrillo Jaguars (2-8) manufactured a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat the Jordan Panthers, 1-0, at Blair Field on Wednesday.
“I’ve never seen that before, but it’s huge for this team… you don’t want to be at the bottom of the totem poll,” said Cabrillo head coach Erick Bryant— the upset win keeps the Jags out of last place. “Last year, Aaron Hicks for Wilson throws a one-hitter against us and we throw a two-hitter, and they win 1-0… it’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
The stars of the game were obviously both starting pitchers, David Aispuro for Jordan (4-5) and Ramiro Rosalez for Cabrillo. Both took advantage of a huge strike zone that produced seven strikeouts (all looking) in the first three and a half innings.
We at LBPostSports don’t usually do this, but it was obvious that the umpiring in this game affected the outcome, both at the plate (the widest and most inconsistent strike zone this writer has seen any level) and in the field,
“Look, for both teams, it’s hard enough to hit the ball and cover all 17 inches of the plate,” said Jordan coach Marc Prager. “But (both catchers) were setting up five or six inches off the plate, and still getting the call. That’s just too much… It got ridiculous.”
Aispuro went 5 and 1/3 and struck out six, not giving up a hit and Rosalez got the complete game shutout while striking out six and giving up four hits— none after the third inning.
“He kept the ball down and got his breaking ball over,” said Bryant of Rosalez. “He is our leader and he absolutely put us on his back today.”
With the game still scoreless, the Jags came up in the sixth with the top of their lineup, and Luis Tarrazas chopped one to third baseman Marcos Lara. It appeared to everyone in the park that the routine play resulted in an out, but the umpire said first baseman Danny Puente pulled his foot off the bag. Prager asked if the throw pulled Puente off the bag, and the umpire said no.
Play continued and Aispuro was visibly shaken. He over threw a pickoff move and walked a man, and with two on and one out, catcher Pedro Torres tried to get the lead runner at third on a bunt, but the throw was late.
Prager sent Aispuro to left field and brought in ace Lara, planning on bringing Aispuro back in the seventh, but trusting that Lara could get the ball over the plate to enduce the double play ball.
With just one out, you have to give some credit to Martin Agredano for being patient at the plate, but after six innings of that huge strike zone, it seemed to disappear when Lara took the bump. Ball three in particular, where Torres set up in the middle of the plate, Lara threw a fastball, Torres didn’t move his glove, and it was called a ball. Agredano walked, Tarrazas came into score, and the game was effectively over. Rosalez came in for the top of the seventh and set down the Panthers in order.
As mentioned above, we don’t make a habit of calling out umpires or referees. However, after multiple questionable calls, and when the second base umpire was bent over looking at the ground while a pitch was thrown in the sixth inning (when there was a runner on second) I decided to say this: These kids deserved better. The two talented pitchers who threw great games deserved better, and now the Panthers are on the outside looking in for the Moore League playoff race.
But like Bryant said, “it’s just the way it goes sometimes.” The sun will still come up on Thursday, and the Panthers still have to battle for their playoff lives against the second-place Lakewood Lancers.