Marlins ride pitching to RBI crown
Metivier allows one hit in dominating performance
PAWTUCKET – For a talented young man who had just helped his team earn a first-ever league championship, Aidan Metivier sure didn’t have much to say.
Moments before, the Seekonk High junior-to-be and crafty righthander whirled a splendid one-hitter with a mere two walks and whopping 12 whiffs to propel his Marlins to a rather simplistic 4-1 triumph over the Twins in the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket RBI Senior Division title tilt at Slater Park’s Ted McConnon Memorial Field on Wednesday night.
But, as his teammates celebrated him behind him, he found it difficult to convey his feelings about winning the game – and its Most Valuable Player accolade. t When asked how he felt about his performance, he said, “I just tried my best.”
As for his surprise about capturing the MVP trophy, he responded, “Yeah.” d His teammate, Lonnie Santiago Jr., however, stepped in to, perhaps, explain what Metivier may be feelfing, and what everyone else thought about his stellar outing. r “Really, he blew my mind in every way possible,” Santiago notred after the awards ceremony. “He made me so proud. I was standing out in center field and I could see where his pitches were going, how they were moving; his location was amazing. He was really hitting his spots.” f The Marlins, which had finished the league season as the No. 2 seed, clubbed only five hits, but made the rmost of them, not to mention the fourth-ranked Twins’ mistakes – errors, passed balls, etc. They also overcame a crazy six miscues, two of which accounted for the lower seeds’ lone run.
Once the shy Metivier became tmore comfortable with his interview, he admitted, “My two-seam rwas pretty good (Wednesday night); I was elevating the fastball, and a lot of them were sswinging. I noticed that, so I kept doing it.
“This is our first-ever (RBI) championship, so it feels great,” he added. “I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, and it actually feels like it came out in this one.”
He explained his season mark with the Marlins is now only 3-0, but that’s because he also represented two other teams this summer, including the RBI Junior Division Indians and an AAU squad out of Providence.
“I got called up to the Marlins this year, so I’m playing both (juniors and seniors, and I like it.”
His mates also liked the final verdict – and how they got there.
Santiago Jr. led the offense, going 1-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch, stolen bag and two runs scored, while Andy Mongeon went 0-for-0 with three walks, two thefts and two runs; Aexis Catalan, Nick Plants and Chris Pungatore each 1-for3 with an RBI; Nick Rossi 0-for-3 (but reached twice) with two robberies; and Corey Pereira 1-for-2.
Fellow righty Plants replaced Metivier in the seventh due to pitch count (he had reached 94, one shy of the rules limit), but immediately allowed the Twins to threaten. He struck out Brendan Santos with a two-out offering, Arron McDermott reached on a two-base error (a dropped liner in right) and Pablo E. DeLaCruz walked to juice the bases.
Plants, though fanned Pablo DeLaCruz Jr. to seal the win.
As for Metivier’s masterpiece, it started a bit “iffy” when he issued a one-out walk to James Coleman in the top of the first. His low pickoff throw to first allowed Coleman to scamper to second, and he eventually came in when Niko George reached on a fielder’s error at third.
The Marlins didn’t need much time to respond. Mongeon led off with a pass off eventual losing pitcher Bellamy Gutierrez, who just graduated from Tolman High, then robbed second. Santiago Jr.’s opposite-field single to right center pushed him to third, and Mongeon raced in on a passed ball.
Santiago Jr. took second on the same before Rossi beat out another infield miscue. That tandem pulled off a double steal, and Santiago Jr. trotted in on Plants’ hit to left.
That turned out to be the game-clinching run.
The Marlins tacked on another run in the third when Mongeon drew a second walk, robbed second, moved to third on Rossi’s fielder’s choice and scored on Catalan’s infield hit. They took advantage of another error at the start of the fourth, a sloppy attempted stop at short. Jeannotte immediately stole the middle bag, took third on a passed ball and sprinted in on Pungatore’s single to left.
Corey Pereira added a bad-hop single and Mongeon a walk to reload the bases, but Santiago Jr. bounced back to Gutierrez on the hill to squelch further damage.
The only hit Metivier yielded came with one out in the fifth; that’s when Arron McDermott clubbed an opposite-field shot to short right.
**
Twins 100 000 0 –1–2–2 Marlins 201 100 x –4–5–6 Bellamy Gutierrez, Niko George (5) and George, Brendan Santos (3). Aidan Metivier, Nick Plants (7) and Andy Mongeon.