Eight-way tie in Caribbean Series after Day 2
By the end of Day 2 of the Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela, each of the eight participating countries had identical records of 1-1. Panama, the Dominican Republic, Curacao and Puerto Rico each avoided an 0-2 start to the series with victories on Friday.
Here’s a recap of the Day 2 action:
Panama 6, Colombia 5
A three-run fourth inning and a two-run seventh were key in Panama’s victory. A Jhonny Santos fielder’s choice ground ball and an Enrique Valdez infield single resulted in the three runs in the fourth inning, Ariel Sandoval belted a solo home run to center in the sixth, and Michael Wielansky launched a two-run shot to right in the seventh. Colombia didn’t go quietly, though. Francisco Acuna doubled and scored on an infield single by Gustavo Campero in the bottom of the seventh to bring Colombia to within a run, but David Richardson worked around an Acuna single in the ninth to induce a game-ending double play on a grounder back to the mound to close things out.
Dominican Republic 3, Cuba 1
Three third-inning runs were all the Dominican Republic’s pitching staff needed to defeat Cuba. The D.R. took advantage of some sloppy defense in that frame, with Luis Barrera scoring from third on an errant pickoff throw to first by Cuba’s catcher, Yosvani Alarcon. Robinson Canó followed with an RBI infield single, and Ramon Hernandez followed that with a fielder’s choice groundout to score the D.R.’s third run. D.R. starter Domingo Robles yielded only one run on five hits over five innings before turning things over to Yennsy Díaz (two innings), Keury Mella (one-third), Jonathan Aro (two-thirds) and Jairo Asencio (one) for four scoreless frames. The relievers limited Cuba to two hits.
Curacao 2, Mexico 1
In a good old-fashioned pitching duel, Curacao’s Nestor Molina and Mexico’s Matt Pobereyko each battled into the sixth inning. Thanks in large part to former MLB outfielder Roger Bernadina, Curacao emerged with the victory. With two outs in the third, Bernadina doubled to right field and then scored on Ray-Patrick Didder’s double to center. And in the fifth, Bernadina delivered a two-out RBI single to score Edmond Americaan, who reached first on an infield single and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. After Joey Terdoslavich homered for Mexico with two outs in the sixth, Molina gave way to Curacao’s bullpen, which shut down Mexico the rest of the way. Kevin Kelly (two-thirds of an inning), Edgar García (1 2/3) and Wendell Floranus (one) combined for 3 1/3 scoreless frames, allowing only two baserunners.
Puerto Rico 6, Venezuela 1
Puerto Rico scored early and never looked back. A Bryan Torres walk to lead off the game, followed by a ground-rule double by D-backs third baseman Emmanuel Rivera and, two outs later, a Daniel Ortiz two-run single got Puerto Rico on the board. Roby Enriquez delivered an RBI double in the second, and Puerto Rico put together a three-run fifth with help from a fielding error by first baseman Isaias Tejeda. Puerto Rico starter Braden Webb gave up a run on three hits but had control issues, walking four and turning the ball over to the bullpen with two outs in the fourth. Puerto Rico’s relief corps was dominant, with Ricardo Velez (2 1/3 innings), Jose Espada (one), Carlos Francisco (one) and Ricardo Gomez (one) teaming to hold Venezuela to one hit over the final 5 1/3 frames while walking two and striking out eight.