Tuatara break duck with historic win
The Auckland Tuatara’s first game on home soil was a low-key affair, played in front of about 1000 fans at their temporary base in west Auckland.
But there was nothing quiet about the performance as the Kiwi franchise made history in thrilling fashion with 5-4 win over the Brisbane Bandits.
The Tuatara dominated the first six innings, building a 4-1 lead only to unravel at the back-end of the game as Brisbane levelled the scores at the top of the ninth.
However, after Te Wera Bishop led off with a single, pinch-runner Ayrton Laird stole third before scoring the winning run off an error as the ball got by the Bandits’ third baseman to secure the Tuatara’s maiden win in the Australian Baseball League.
After losing all four opening games in Perth last week, overcoming the defending ABL champions was always going to be a tough ask for the Steve Mintz-managed team.
But they had their bats going early to put the pressure on the visitors.
While no one managed to clear the fence at the makeshift ballpark, which the Tuatara will call home this season before moving to QBE Stadium next year, they did manage 11 hits in total, Guiyuan Xu scoring two runs and Eric Jenkins and Max Brown adding the others.
And the display was underlined by an impressive pitching effort by Jimmy Boyce, who had three strikeouts while giving up four hits and one run in five and one-third innings.
Boyce threw a strike with the opening pitch of the game and it was three up, three down for the Kiwi prospect before Eric Jenkins combined with Daniel LambHunt to continue his hot start to the season.
Jenkins, who had seven hits from 16 atbats in the Perth series, hit a lead-off single off the first pitch. And, after stealing second base, he got the Tuatara on the board off a Lamb-Hunt single.
An RBI from Bishop doubled the lead in the second following a double from Xu.
While the Bandits bats woke up at the top of the third, the home team immediately restored the two-run advantage thanks to a two-out triple from Max Brown and an RBI by Max Brown.
Luke Hansen drove in Xu’s second in the fourth before Mintz went to the bullpen two inning later, with left-hander Ryota Okumoto getting out of jail with two runners stranded on base.
The Bandits made their move in the seventh but only after a contentious piece of umpiring.
Auckland looked to have secured an out, however, the umpire called a balk, leaving Mintz fuming.
Brisbane went on to cut the deficit with runs from Ryan Battaglia and Daniel Nilsson to set up a nail-biting finish.
The tension was palpable in the final inning as Yuki Harada came to the mound. The Japanese pitcher comfortably picked up the first two outs but a Danny De La Calle double set up the game-tying run.
There was still one last twist, though, as Laird, a development player, raced home to scenes of jubilation in the Tuatara dugout.
The home team has the chance to build on that display as it hosts Brisbane in a doubleheader today before the series wraps up on Sunday.