Brewers nip Dodgers in NL opener
MOJDEH, EVANGELISTA MAKE WAVES IN TOKYO INVIT’L MEET
The Philippine Swimming League (PSL) copped seven gold, nine silver and one bronze medals on the opening day of the 2018 Tokyo Invitational Swimming Championship on Saturday at the St. Mary’s International School swimming pool in Tokyo, Japan.
Palarong Pambansa most bemedalled athlete Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh of Immaculate Heart of Mary College-Parañaque and Aishel Cid Evangelista of West Manila Christian School led the charge of the squad as they copped two gold medals each in their respective age-groups.
A veteran of international competitions, Mojdeh displayed her prowess in the girls’ 11-12 200m individual medley (IM) via a two-minute, 28.93-second showing, erasing the 2:32.18 old mark of Michelle Peterson in 2016.
Moments later, Mojdeh dominated the 100m breaststroke in 1:17.06, a few seconds better than the 1:19.15 previous record of Peterson.
Not to be outdone was Evangelista, who topped the boys’ 8-under 25m freestyle with a time of 15.79 seconds, breaking the 25-yearold mark (16.16) of Olympian Miguel Molina in 1993.
He also earned a gold in the 50m breaststroke event (45.50) of the tournament participated in by 22 teams including those from China, Taiwan, England, US and host Japan.
Sharing the spotlight was Francisco Cordero, who ruled the boys’ 11-12 100m breaststroke in 1:11.54, smashing the 1:11.91 record of Teo Takahashi in 2011.
Richelle Ann Raine Callera (girls’ 8-under 25m freestyle, 16.39) and Phelicity Bose (girls’ 15-18 200m breaststroke, 2:59.45) added one gold apiece.
“It was a great start for our team, establishing new records against some of the world’s best young swimmers in this competition. We are happy with the outcome and we’re hoping to win more gold medals in the coming days,” said PSL president Susan Papa.
“We would like to thank the Filipino community in Japan especially Myles Beltran and Arnel Punzalan who supported our team all throughout the competition. We are extremely grateful for the help they extended,” added Papa.
The win was the Brewers’ 12th straight dating back to the end of the regular season.
Game 2 in the best-of-7 is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, also in Milwaukee, with the Dodgers expected to pitch left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu against Brewers lefty Wade Miley.
Domingo Santana had a two-run, pinch-hit single, and Jesus Aguilar smacked a home run as the Brewers sent Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw to the showers after just three-plus innings, the shortest postseason start of his career.
Manny Machado drove in three runs with a home run and two-run single for the Dodgers, who are making their third straight appearance in the NLCS.
Woodruff got the Brewers rolling, first with his arm. He came on in relief after the Dodgers had taken a 1-0 lead against Milwaukee starter Gio Gonzalez, with Machado providing the run with his third homer this postseason in the second inning.
Gonzalez was pulled after two innings despite having allowed just one hit and one walk. He also struck out one.
After retiring the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the top of the third, Woodruff stepped to the plate and belted a two-strike Kershaw fastball well over the fence in right-center field for his second career home run, tying the score.
“I thought he was going to attack me. I was just trying to make contact, make it a tough at-bat for him, and make him work a little bit. Just got lucky, and was able to hit it out,” Woodruff told Fox Sports postgame.
The Brewers added a second run in the inning, in large part because of a nightmarish sequence by Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, who recorded two errors – one on catcher ’s interference – and a passed ball in the inning.