Monroe’s Jesus Vasquez picked up his fourth league win of the year. (denis gostev)
When Frailyn Paez slammed a Joaquin DeJesus delivery into left field, scoring Wander Almonte, Monroe’s bench exploded like a fireworks show on the Fourth of July.
The Eagles reacted like an underdog winning their first game against the favorite, not the undefeated leaders of Bronx A East. They mobbed Almonte at the plate, joyously smacking his helmet with love taps. Moments later, they sprinted toward second base, repeating the festivities for Paez, the slugging first baseman.
This wasn’t just any win for Monroe, ranked second in The Post’s NYC baseball rankings. It was a victory over rival DeWitt Clinton, and an eighth-inning, walk-off win, so unlike the 12 league wins before it, many of them routs.
“You want to see what kids are made of,” Monroe coach Mike Turo said after the Eagles’ 2-1 victory in eight innings at Taft HS in The Bronx. “This is the playoffs. This was like a playoff game, no question about it. They were at their best, we played well. That’s the kind of baseball you are going to see.”
It was a pitcher’s duel, Clinton’s DeJesus and Monroe’s Jesus Vasquez matching each other pitch for pitch. Shaniel Rivera touched up Vasquez for a run-scoring single in the fourth, but Kelvin Toribio returned the favor to DeJesus in the bottom half of the frame.
The rest of the afternoon, the two took turns making the opposition look silly. Vasquez stranded two Governors in the first, getting Joey Flores to ground back to the mound and Shaniel Rivera to fly out to right. In the fifth, centerfielder Melvin Garcia turned DeJesus’ line drive into an 8-3 double play, gunning down Oscar Gonzalez from medium center. Clinton put one on in the sixth, but Vasquez (4-0) caught Rivera looking to end the threat.
DeJesus, a left-hander with a sharp 12-to-6 curveball and tailing fastball, kept Monroe off balanced the entire way. He struck out five and allowed seven hits.
He left two runners on in the second and stranded Paez at third in the fourth, fanning Joamy Dominguez and Ricky Batista on breaking balls. There were two on in the sixth, too, but Toribio and Dominguez grounded out.
“People say they don’t have a lot of pitching, but the kid looking good to me,” Turo said.
Monroe (13-0) finally got to him in the eighth. With one out, Almonte took a two-strike off-speed offering to right field, just out of the reach of second baseman Hansel Reinoso. DeJesus committed his biggest blunder without throwing a pitch, air-mailing a pickoff attempt. Paez, a well-built sophomore from the Dominican Republic, followed with a drive into the hole between third base and shortstop, plating Almonte and starting the celebration.
“Every time he’s up there, he’s ready,” said Vasquez, who allowed five hits and struck out six in eight innings. “He’s the go-to guy any time runners are on base.”
Vasquez said Paez told him he would drive in the game-winning run earlier on. Paez, however, said Vasquez asked him to deliver that hit.
“You’re going to win the game for us,” Paez said Vasquez told him prior to his final at-bat.
Either way, Monroe found a way to win, and remain undefeated, in Bronx A East, arguably the best division in the city. Three more wins – one against Clinton and two versus Walton – would likely mean the top seed in the city playoffs for the Eagles. Turo has made a habit out of telling his players they have a lot to prove, that they are “riding on other guys’ coattails.” For the first time in a decade, Monroe has no active players with any rings. They would like to change that.
“We are all hungry here, we know that we haven’t won anything,” Vasquez said. “We’re just trying to get all the way to the championship.”