EXPOS STUN RAYS, STAY ALIVE IN EXTRA INNINGS

By GSPN

The 76 Expos weren’t ready to go home Sunday evening as they slugged their way to a Game 3 victory in the GML Championship Series 14-11 through 10 complete innings to avoid a sweep. Errors would hurt the Rays in the later innings, but a big RBI single by Jared Alerta in the 10th inning ignited the underdog Expos to close out the Game 3.

With the game knotted at 11, The Expos grabbed a one run lead off a Florencio Binuya RBI single. Alerta thenstepped to the plate with runners in scoring position and staring down Rays closer Tony Yatar with no outs.

Alerta smacked a shot down the center that brought in a run, but an error on the play allowed another run to score with the Expos going up 14-11. Alerta immediately turned to the crowd lifted his arms to keep the noise coming.

The Rays tried to respond in the bottom of the 10th, but quickly fell into a two-out hole with closer RJ Joe getting a clutch strikeout on a looking Corey Paulino. A single from TJ Sarmiento followed by another single from Lance Santos started the framework of a comeback. The game would end on a grounder from BJ Balajadia with the Expos scooping up the ball and tossing it to second base for the game closing out.

Winning pitcher RJ finished with 2K’s and took over in the 9th inning. Rays Tony Yatar takes the loss for the with 3K’s and came in during the 8th inning.

Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7 pm.