Bill Knight

El Paso Times

And finally – after 12 innings and more than four hours – the fizz left the ball park.

Tacoma shrugged off a slow and steady and dramatic El Paso comeback, scratched across a single run in the top of the 12th to take a 6-5 victory over the Chihuahuas on a cool, cloudy, windless Wednesday evening at Southwest University Park.

The smallest crowd of the season, a gathering of just 4,113, witnessed the 12 inning drama that served as the opening game of the Pacific Coast League Pacific Conference championship. Tacoma now has a 1-0 lead in this sprint that is a best-of-five series.

It was playoff baseball all evening – each pitch meaning a little more, each swing intensified, each play in the field magnified.

Tacoma struck first, pushing across three runs in the second frame and forcing the Chihuahuas to play chase all evening. It was 3-1 after a Diego Goris RBI single in the fourth and it was 3-2 after a Manuel Margot solo home run over the center field fence in the fifth.

The Raniers tacked on two more in the sixth and El Paso countered with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth. The Chihuahuas got that run when Tacoma shortstop Tyler Smith dropped a Jose Rondon pop up. Seeing a dropped pop up at this level of baseball is akin to seeing an elephant loping down I-10; you just don’t see it. Smith probably can’t remember the last time he dropped one and he may never drop another in his career.

But this one gave the Chihuahuas a run, leaving them looking uphill 5-3 after six innings, after seven innings, after eight innings. But then came the dramatic ninth.

Nick Noonan opened with a line drive double down the left field line. He scored on a Margot bloop double, one that landed like a wedge shot just down the right field line. Hunter Renfroe walked but then it appeared the Raniers would wiggle off the hook. But Smith overthrew first in a double play attempt and Margot scored the game-knotting run.

And so they went to the 10th. And then the 11th. Finally, Smith (who had four hits in this one) singled, Rob Brantly singled and Zach Shank singled – all to left – and the Raniers pushed one across.

And that was all they needed. Patrick Kivlehan singled for El Paso in the bottom of the 12th and then stole second … waiting there for someone to bring him home. But Tacoma reliever Al Albuquerque mowed down the next three Chihuahuas.

And this night’s drama was done.

The Tacoma win wiped away an outstanding performance by the Chihuahua bullpen. Kyle McGrath, Phil Maton, Buddy Baumann, Jason Jester and Derek Eitel worked six and two-thirds innings. Jester gave up those three singles in the 12th but that was the only run the pen allowed.

Now El Paso must win three of four to move on to the Pacific Coast League championship series, starting with Thursday night’s game in Southwest University Park. The final three, if necessary, will be in Tacoma.

The crowd was small but it was playoff loud and the atmosphere was tense and intense all the way to that final out in the 12, all the way until the fizz left the ball park.

Bill Knight may be reached at 546-6171; bknight@elpasotimes.com; @BillKnighhtept on Twitter.