CARACAS ( Associated Press) — The Dominican Republic defeated Curacao on Wednesday’s final day of the first round and joined Mexico and Colombia, who have already secured their appearances in the Caribbean Series semifinals.
Puerto Rico, for its part, surpassed leader Mexico, posting a 5–2 record. However, the Puerto Ricans continue to be classified – they are losing to qualify at the expense of Venezuela.
The Puerto Rican ninth was left with a 4–3 record, while Venezuela has a 4–2 record. The locals play later against Colombia.
With a loss, the hosts would drop their record to 4–3 and Puerto Rico would be left with the last ticket due to tournament rules, which stipulate that the difference in tie matters for both of them. The middle is done by match. teams. Indios de Mayaguez has won their side 6-1 over Leones de Caracas. The Dominican Tigers (4-3) defeated the Indians 6-4 to secure their way through.
Panama (3–4), for its part, defeated Cuba (1–6) to bid a bye to the tournament, finishing last in the standings. Both the teams were already eliminated. The people of Curaçao (2-5) were also eliminated.
The tournament is played under all-against-all modality over the first seven dates, where the first four qualify for the semi-finals.
The winners of the semi-finals, where the first with fourth in the standings and the second with third, are given the right to play the final on 10 February in the Venezuelan capital.
The Tigres de Licey beat the Wildcats of Curaçao 6–2, while the Indios de Mayagüez defeated Cannero 9–3 and the Federales de Chiriqui defeated the Agriculturales de Bayamo 10–4.
Dominican 6, Curacao 1
In the first inning, Emilio Bonifacio reached with a double and scored on a fielder’s choice by Henry Urrutia to drive off and an error by second baseman Jonathan Scoop.
Curaçao tied the score at 1–1 in the fourth on Sharlon Scoop’s single.
Bonifacio hit a triple in the seventh and scored on Robinson Cano’s double. Shortly thereafter, the Tigers took a 5–1 lead with a home run by pinch-hitter Ramon Hernandez.
Bonifacio, who went 3 for 4 with one hit in the sixth, went into the eighth.
The win was credited to reliever Williams Jerez (1–0) and the loss to starter Nestor Molina (1–1).
Indian 9, Kairos 3
Wimel Machin scored the first run for the Puerto Ricans with a single in the first inning. Emmanuel Rivera added another score in the third inning, completing it with a three-run homer by Edwin Díaz.
Los Caneros gave up three runs, one of them with a sacrifice fly by Joey Terdoslavich and the other two with a hit by Fernando Villegas in the fourth inning.
Roberto Enriquez hit a two-run double in the eighth to make it 7–3.
In the ninth inning, Machin was once again productive, driving in two runs with a single.
Federal 10, Farmer 4
The Farmers took the lead in the first inning on Rico Santos’ sacrifice fly, but the Federals turned things around with a five-run streak in the top of the third inning, three of them on Johnny Santos’ double. The Panamanian team added two more in the fourth section with unbeaten drivers Jahdiel Santamaría and George Bishop.
The Cubans gave up three in the seventh, but Panamanians Iván Herrera and Santamaría with singles and Rodrigo Orozco with a ground ball in the infield added three more.
Harold Arauz (2–0) earned the opening and the win, and starter Leandro Martínez (0–1) lost.
