Robinson Canó drove in three runs to lead the Gigantes del Cibao 5-3 victory over the Criollos de Caguas of Puerto Rico, this Saturday in the second day of the Santo Domingo 2022 Caribbean Series.
With the victory, the Dominicans keep alive a string of 14 consecutive wins in the Caribbean classic, which this year takes place at the Quisqueya Juan Marichal stadium.
The Dominican team wasted no time attacking Puerto Rico’s starter, Eric Stout (0-1), scoring two runs in the closing of the first inning, on a one-run triple by Robinson Canó, who then scored on a sacrifice fly to Marcell Ozuna’s center field.
The Puerto Ricans threatened in the fifth inning, when they placed men on second and third with only one out, but Raúl Valdés (1-0) struck out Edwin Díaz and dominated Joneswhy Fargas with a fly ball to right field to leave the chapter unharmed.
The Criollos returned to the attack in the sixth, when after two outs, David Vidal singled and was followed by a double to left field Danny Ortiz, who took him to the plate for the Puerto Ricans’ first run.
In the seventh, those from Puerto Rico placed runners on first and second, with one out, but reliever Luis Felipe Castillo dominated with a fly ball to second base and ground ball to shortstop, Fargas and TJ Rivera, respectively, preventing them from tying or taking the lead in the match.
In the bottom half of that seventh inning, Canó’s bat reappeared, when with two outs and the bases loaded, the veteran second baseman hit a single to right field against left-handed reliever Nelvin Fuentes, taking two runners to the register and giving him the 4-1 advantage over the Dominicans.
The Puerto Ricans came within a run in the eighth, due to a two-run homer by David Vidal, against left-hander Reymín Guduán.
The Dominicans took off again in the ninth, on Ronald Guzmán’s one-run single.
The Dominican Giants had a good pitching job from Valdés (1-0), who at 44 years old, pitched 5.2 innings of four hits, one run and five strikeouts.
Despite the loss Stout (0-1) served from the middle of the diamond for the Criollos, covering 5.1 innings in which they had four hits, scored two runs and struck out six batters.
Juan Minaya pitched the ninth without incident and earned his second save in the Caribbean tournament
For the Dominicans, Canó drove in three and scored one, Guzmán had a run scored and an RBI and Ozuna had a run scored and an RBI to lead the attack
For Puerto Rico, Vidal had a home run, two produced and one scored and Ortiz had an RBI.
This Sunday, in the continuation of the Caribbean Series, the Dominican Republic will face Panama, Venezuela will play Puerto Rico and Mexico will face Colombia.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 C H E
Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 8 0
Dominican Republic 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 5 9 0
Ganó: Eric Stout (0-1),
Lost: Raul Valdes (1-0)
Home run: David Vidal (1).
