PUERTO RICO – The Dominican Republic held off a 9th inning rally from Venezuela to move its record to 1-1 for the Series in the first game of the day. In the second game, Puerto Rico scored 5 early runs and evened its record to 1-1 as well defeating Mexico 7-3
Venezuela 5, Dominican Republic 6
The Dominican Republic rebounded after blowing a late 3-run lead to Mexico the day before to pick up its first victory in the Caribbean Series, but it wasn’t without drama.
Down 6-3 in the top of the 9th inning, Venezuela mounted a 2-out rally to pull within 1 run of the Dominican Republic. After 2 quick outs, Eliezer Alfonzo singled to center and scored on the 2-run home run to left by Jackson Melian. The Dominican Republic quickly replaced Winston Abreu with Julio Manon who was able to record the final out with no further trouble.
The big hitter on the day for Venezuela was Luis Jimenez who went 2-for-3 on the day. Jimenez took Dominican starter Aneury Rodriguez deep twice driving in 3 runs. Melian and Henry Rodriguez both chipped in with 2 hits apiece.
Kevin Barker drove in 3 runs for the Dominican with 2 hits on the day including a solo home run to left field in the 7th inning. Jose Constanza had 2 hits from the lead off spot, and Ruddy Yan went 2-for-2.
Both starters gave up 3 runs in less than 5 innings, and neither picked up a decision. Wilkins Arias pitched 1.1 innings of shutout relief to pick up the victory, and Manon got the save for his 1/3 of an inning.
Puerto Rico 7, Mexico 3
Puerto Rico jumped out big early and held on to win 7-3. Mexico didn’t help itself as it committed 3 errors in the first inning putting itself in a hole 5-0 before it got to bat. Puerto Rico used Mexico’s 3 errors and 5 hits to score 5 runs out of the gate. Mexico starter Rolando Valdez didn’t make it out of the first inning. He got 2 outs but gave up 5 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits taking the loss. Puerto Rico pitcher Juan Padilla pitched well in relief throwing 4 shutout innings to earn the victory.
Both teams tallied a lot of hits on the day. Luis Figueroa (3-5/2RBI), Pedro Valdes (3-4/1RBI), and Robinson Cancel (3-4/1RBI) led the way offensively all with 3 hits.
Mexico was led by Justin Christian who went 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored. Only 1 of the 3 runs Mexico scored were earned as Puerto Rico also had trouble in the field. The lone RBI went to Karim Garcia who had 2 hits on the night.
Each teams record stands at 1-1 after the first 2 days of play.
2011 Caribbean Series Schedule:
- Wednesday, February 2
- Dominican Republic 3, Mexico 4
- Venezuela 5, Puerto Rico 3
- Thursday, February 3
- Venezuela 5, Dominican Republic 6
- Puerto Rico 7, Mexico 3
- Friday, February 4
- Mexico vs. Venezuela
- Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico
- Saturday, February 5
- Mexico vs. Dominican Republic
- Puerto Rico vs. Venezuela
- Sunday, February 6
- Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela
- Mexico vs. Puerto Rico
- Monday, February 7
- Venezuela vs. Mexico
- Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic
2011 Caribbean Series Standings:
| Team | Won | Lost |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 01 | 01 |
| Venezuela | 01 | 01 |
| Puerto Rico | 01 | 01 |
| Dominican Republic | 01 | 01 |
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This post was written by
Eric Bynum is Managing Editor here at Baseball de World and an ESL teacher in South Korea. He has played and/or written about baseball for the past 30 years and is an avid Atlanta Braves fan. Eric also writes for Braves Baseball World and for Call to the Pen.
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