Riyadh goes Nap
It had been almost exactly nine months since the Red Crescents had last gone Nap in a week. Week ending 18th August 2046 was the last week that Riyadh had won five games in a single week, now, week ending 18th May 2047 they had repeated the feat. We are now riding a four-game winning streak, if we complete the four-game sweep of Beirut with the first game of next week we will have equalled the franchise’s longest ever win streak. For a while the poor start to 2047 seems a long way away, but in baseball things can turn in an instant, this time next week we could be bemoaning a five-game losing streak. Still, the highlight of the week for a lot of the Red Crescents fans was the 7-3 win over Cairo which at least prevented the sweep. A twelfth innings walkoff loss to the Kings in Baghdad was our first extra-innings loss of the season, but a tenth innings win the next day and a twelfth innings win later against slumping Beirut kept our record up to 6-1 in extras. We must improve late on in games though as we’ve only won six of 16 games that have been decided by the single run.
Andresa Pires finally managed to be credited with his first win for Riyadh as he pitched into the seventh innings against Beirut. Allowing just three hits and a run he improved his record to 1-3 from his eight starts for his new team. Despite his three losses his WHIP is only 1.18 and his ERA stands at 3.46 so it’s not all bad, if he can maintain those kind of figures then surly he can improve his record. Bert Hackworth, winner of eight games last year, has become the first pitcher in the rotation to win two games, but Thomas Morrison, 0-2 with an ERA almost touching 7.00, has lost his starting role to leftie Alejando Soto who pitched mainly out of the bullpen last year but made three starts in a season which saw him end up 2-0, 3.66. Francisco Cardona got four outs in that win over Cairo to record his first save of 2047, but added his second blown save later in the week after an eighth innings 2-run homer had allowed the Cedars to take us to extras. Out of the eight pitchers in the bullpen, five of them currently have an ERA below 3.00.
As we pass the 40 game mark of the season Masaki Sato added his ninth homer of the campaign and took his RBI tally to a team-leading 23. First-year Riyadh player Grady Fern now is second with 19 RBI and leads the team with a .342 batting average. Clive Timberlake in his first week as the regular 1B went 0-6 in the first two games in the Beirut series in the Prince’s Palace, but then went 4-5 in the third game including a 3-run homer. He also scored seven times in the week’s seven games. Another “Riyadh rookie” Jose Montano hit two doubles during the week to take his tally to a team leading 14 in 2047.
2047 Riyadh Results against the UMEBA (Up to May 18th)
Vs BURT
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baghdad | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 39 | 39 | 4-5 |
| Beirut | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 37 | 39 | 5-4 |
| Jerusalem | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 37 | 46 | 3-6 |
| Manama | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 30 | 40 | 3-5 |
| Team | HW | HL | AW | AL | RF | RA | Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
| Bucharest | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
| Cairo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 1-2 |
| Mumbai | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0-0 |
| Tripoli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 23 | 0-3 |
