BNN WORLD SERIES GAME 6 RECAP
LONG BEACH DIABLOS AT SACRAMENTO PRAYERS
Saturday, October 22, 1988 — Sacramento Stadium
Final: Sacramento 2, Long Beach 1
Prayers win World Series, 4–2
By Chad G. Petey, Baseball News Network (BNN) and Gemmy Nay, Sacramento Sports Chronicle
PRAYERS ANSWERED: Sacramento Reigns Supreme as World Series Champions!
SACRAMENTO, CA — The wait is over. It didn’t end with fireworks or a flood of runs. It ended the way championship seasons often do — tight, tense, and balanced on a single moment that held all the weight of six months. The roar that erupted from Sacramento Stadium at 11:04 PM PT tonight could likely be heard all the way to Lake Tahoe.
When Eli Murguia’s two-run home run disappeared into the cool Sacramento night in the bottom of the fourth inning, it didn’t just flip the scoreboard. It tilted the World Series — and the city — permanently toward history. Behind a towering blast and a clinical defensive performance, the Sacramento Prayers defeated the Long Beach Diablos 2-1 in Game 6, clinching their 9th World Series title in franchise history.
It wasn't a blowout like Game 5. It was a classic, white-knuckle pitching duel that required every ounce of grit the Prayers possessed. In the end, Sacramento stood tall. The Sacramento Prayers defeated the Long Beach Diablos 2–1 on Saturday night, closing the 1988 season with the kind of precise, disciplined victory that had defined them from April through October.
“This one felt like us,” Murguia said quietly afterward. “Not loud. Not flashy. Just… right.”
★ ★ ★
A TENSE OPENING, A SINGLE CRACK
The night began with nerves stretched thin.
Bernardo Andretti, pitching on short rest, worked carefully through the first inning before the Diablos scratched out the game’s first run in the second. A single by Mike White, a balk, and a sharp RBI single from Mike Henning gave Long Beach a 1–0 lead — the kind of small advantage that felt enormous in a clinching game.
Andretti bent but didn’t break, stranding runners and keeping Sacramento within reach.
“Bernardo gave us exactly what we needed,” manager Jimmy Aces said. “Poise. Groundballs. No panic.”
Andretti would finish with 4.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits, inducing 10 groundouts, and handing the game over without surrendering the lead further.
★ ★ ★
THE MOMENT THAT TURNED EVERYTHING
Jonathan Perdieu matched Andretti pitch for pitch through three innings, carving through the heart of the Prayers’ order with flyballs and soft contact. Then, in the fourth, Sacramento finally found the opening it had been waiting for.
Edwin Musco punched a single through the right side. One pitch later, Eli Murguia turned on a fastball and sent it 414 feet into right-center, a no-doubt home run that detonated Sacramento Stadium.
In an instant, the Prayers led 2–1.
“You don’t think in that moment,” Murguia said. “You react. And then you hear forty thousand people at once.”
From that point on, runs vanished. Every out felt heavier than the last.
★ ★ ★
THE BULLPEN SLAMS THE DOOR
If Murguia provided the swing, the bullpen provided the spine.
Chris Ryan was magnificent, stepping in during the 5th and bridging the middle innings with three scoreless frames, allowing just two hits, inducing groundball after groundball, and extinguishing Long Beach’s few remaining sparks.
Ryan retired nine of ten hitters and stranded inherited runners in the fifth — a quiet, pivotal sequence that preserved the narrow lead.
Then came Luis Prieto.
Called upon for the final four outs, Prieto delivered the calmest, cleanest inning of the season when it mattered most. He struck out Daniel Mele looking to open the ninth, retired Pedro Ortiz on a grounder, and finished the World Series by coaxing a harmless flyball from Mike White.
No drama. No hesitation.
Just a final out — and an eruption.
★ ★ ★
A TEAM, NOT A MOMENT
As champagne sprayed and players embraced on the field, the word repeated again and again in the clubhouse was not
dynasty, not
legacy, not
history.
It was
team.
“Hitting, pitching, fielding — you need all of it,” Aces said, his voice hoarse. “But what wins championships is covering for each other. That’s what this group did every single night.”
Even the Diablos acknowledged it.
“They deserved it,” Long Beach manager Frank Carrillo said.
“They were the better team. Full stop.”
"Team was the word of the day," Manager Jimmy Aces told us in a champagne-soaked clubhouse. He’s right. This wasn't just about Bret Perez's record-setting runs or Edwin Musco’s .365 series average. It was about Luis Prieto coming out of the pen, Logan Hicks making plays in the gaps, and a city that never stopped believing.
★ ★ ★
SACRAMENTO, AGAIN
Parade plans were announced before the final out was even recorded. Horns echoed downtown. Fans spilled into the streets, carrying banners that spanned generations.
For the Sacramento Prayers, 1988 did not end with a roar — it ended with control, composure, and conviction.
Two runs. One swing. Nine championships.
And another banner waiting for the rafters.