Payano spins a masterclass in game 1

Written by Dan Haugh / Photo by Matt Hiscox

The fans who came to Labatt Park Friday night expecting exciting playoff baseball were not disappointed with the London Majors ́ 3-2 win over the Hamilton Cardinals.

Great pitching. Timely hitting. Great defensive plays. Never a dull moment for the fans from both sides.

The playoffs are what these teams play all season for, and this game had just about everything you would want a playoff game to have.

We can start with great pitching.

London starter Victor Payano pitched a gem, and was as close to flawless as he could possibly be in picking up his sixth win in 2024..

Here is a list of what Payano achieved.

He lasted a full eight innings.

LHe only allowed two unearned runs on just five Cardinals hits.

He threw a total of 112 pitches, 80 of those were for strikes.

He had 14 strikeouts and gave up only one walk.

Tyler Gillies came on to pitch a perfect ninth inning striking out the side to pick up his fourth save of 2024.

You don't have to look far to find a hitting star for the Majors. That would be Victor Plaz who went 3-for-3 at the plate with a solo home run in the third inning and an RBI ground-rule double in the fourth inning that drove in Byron Reichstein with the eventual winning run,

 Eduardo De Oleo had a pair of singles and Byron Reichstein contributed an RBI single that scored Starling Joseph in the fourth inning and brought the London hit total to six in the game.

Hamilton starter Takaki Eguchi took the loss. The Cardinals used a total of five pitchers in the game.

London was able to save arms by using just Payano and Gillies with a busy weekend ahead. The way Tyler Gillies pitched the ninth inning it might be a very good possibility that we could see him before the weekend is over.

The aforementioned busy weekend continues in Hamilton Saturday evening at 7:35 p.m. and then back at Labatt Park Sunday afternoon with a 4:05 start in Game 3 of this first round series