DUBAI: Baseball in Dubai started with a bang on Friday night as the Karachi Monarchs’ third baseman, Pavin Parks, hammered the first pitch in the league’s history deep out of the ballpark with a 350-foot shot that sailed over the right field Crawford Boxes.
Facing the Mumbai Cobra’s starting pitcher, Karan Patel — who was the first player of Indian descent drafted by a Major League Baseball club, and then the first draft pick in Baseball United history (2023) — Parks’ shot became the first hit, first home run, first run scored, and first RBI in BU history.
The Monarchs’ bats were kept silent by the Cobras’ pitchers until a wild ninth inning that included another Parks blast, this time the first official Moneyball in league history, which cut a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 since the solo home run counted for double the runs as per BU’s Moneyball rules. Karachi ended up scoring five runs in the inning, pulling out a surprising 6-4 come-from-behind victory on Opening Night.
Other highlights from opening night:
• Mark Simon struck out former big-leaguer (TB Rays, St. Louis Cardinals) Justin Williams in the bottom of the first inning. This was the first strikeout in BU’s history.
• Lou Helmig’s home run in the bottom of the second inning against starter Mark Simon became the first two-run home run in BU’s history.
• In the fifth inning, Caleb McNeely hit an RBI double, facing relief pitcher Isaac Milburn. This was the first RBI and first run scored with no home run involved.
• Shortstop Lord de Vera hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, bringing McNeely to the plate. This was the first RBI single in BU history.
• Mumbai relief pitcher Chandler Woolridge executed the first successful fireball after striking out Henderson Perez with no outs on the scoreboard (Top Seventh), and later, in the eighth inning, he had the second successful fireball after striking out Jose Acosta. These were the first two well-executed fireballs in BU’s history.
• Despite Mumbai executing two consecutive successful fireballs to end the seventh and eighth innings after the first batter, the Karachi Monarchs manufactured a 5-run rally. Parks hit his second home run of the night against Jacob Hasty.
• Max Jung-Goldberg received the first hit-by-pitch of the season. Because it occurred during Moneyball (ninth inning), it resulted in an RBI, as the batter was hit by the ball, and the runner on second base advanced two bases.
• Milburn executed the first fireball in Mumbai Cobras history after striking out Helmig in the bottom of the seventh inning.
• First winning pitcher in BU history: Alex Dubord; first losing pitcher in BU history: Hasty; first save in BU history: Enrique Burgos.
