Every time the Red Sox chipped away at their lead, the Pirates answered.
Kai Schmidt’s two-RBI single in the first inning spotted the Pirates an early 2-0 lead, and the Red Sox could never quite catch up in an 8-6 loss in the Gastineau Channel Little League Junior Division championship game on Friday night at Adair-Kennedy Memorial Field.
It was the Red Sox’s first postseason loss and the two sides square off once more Saturday night at 6 p.m. for another championship game.
Pitcher and shortstop Gaby Soto led the Pirates with an inside-the-park-home run — one of his team-high three runs — while Isaiah Nelson and Matt Hartstock contributed two hits for the Red Sox.
Down 6-4, it looked like the Red Sox would finally break through in the bottom of the fifth inning. Hartstock led off with an inside-the-park home run and the following batter, Carter Walker, was hit by a pitch and promptly stole second base. But just before MJ Tupou singled the ball up the middle of the infield, the Pirates picked off Walker at second base to help prevent any further runs from scoring.
The Red Sox could muster just one more run the rest of the game.
After going down 2-0 in the top of the first inning, the Red Sox got one back in the bottom of the inning. Steffan Jones drew a walk, advanced to third on a walk and grounder and scored on a wild pitch. Jones scored again in the third inning on a similar sequence of events.
Soto’s inside-the-park home run in the fourth proved key as the Red Sox rallied to bring in two runs of their own later in the inning. Peyton Lewis singled and Julian Mayeda and Fin Kesey drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Nelson, who pulled the ball to shallow left field to score Lewis and Mayeda.
Soto, Josh Carte and Mason Ackman shared the mound for the Pirates while Nelson, Hartstock and Kesey all pitched for the Red Sox.
The Pirates walked a combined six batters to the Red Sox’s eight.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
