Thursday, December 11, 2008

Moca, Espaillat, Mexico – Pablo “Banjo” Ortíz didn't feel like he had his best stuff when he finished warming up in the bullpen.  "Wasn't hitting my spots, had a hard time getting loose," he told this reporter.

Two and a half hours after warming up in the bullpen, he had left most if not all observers completely awestruck.  "I don't know, I just seemed to find a groove early and was able to ride it," he told the gathering of reporters.  After leading the Moca Segadoras de Café to a 4-0 win over the Puerto Plata Playas Dorada with a masterful 1-hit performance, Ortíz seemed rather unphased.

Ortíz was working on a perfect game with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th, when Puerta Plata 1B Tomás Ortíz lined a clean single into left field.

Was he disappointed not to get the perfect game?  "Not at all.  It was a good hit, a clean hit.  I was trying to work him away; he just went with the pitch.  It was a nice piece of hitting."

Asked about his pitchers performance, all Moca manager Manuel García would say was, "Unreal."  I think that summed up the feelings of most observers.  For the day, Ortíz allowed just the one single, walked no one and struck out 9.  His record on the season is now 7-1 and he lowered his ERA to 2.69.  He threw 114 pitches on the day, 75 for strikes.

Mocha scored a single run in the first and 3 more in the third, and that would be all the scoring they would need behind Ortíz's spectacular pitching.  The 4-0 win leaves Moca still one game behind San Cristóbal Cajeros de Fortuna in the Liga Dominicana de Béisbol Invernal standings.

In other LDBI action on Wednesday, San Cristóbal defeated the Azua Zafiros Blanco by a score of 7-0, and the La Vega Luchadors de las Calles topped the Baní Depredadoras del Peravia with a decisive 10-1 win.