Pedro G. Briceño
The Aguilas of the Dominican Republic advance to the final of the Caribbean Series. And they did it in an impressive way.
Carlos Paulino singled to center with full bags to ride in the two rounds that turned the score and gave the Aguilas Cibaeñas a tight 4-3 victory over Panama’s Federales de Chiriquí in the first of two semi-finals in the Caribbean area. Classic.
The hit by Paulino, who came in as a substitute to catch Francisco Peña in the seventh inning, scored Yefri Pérez and Johan Camargo, who were in the third and middle respectively. His historic hit came against veteran Walter Silva, 44, who had relieved Marcos Campos in Act 6. The 20-year old righthanded pitching in baseball in Mexico had done a commendable job.
For the second date in a row, the Quisqueyanos were victorious in their last at bat, as on Thursday, Rangel Ravelo hit the winning goal, an unstoppable one to left field to give him the 3-2 victory against Colombia.
The success of the Cibaeños leaves behind an erratic defensive game against Panama, in which they committed four blunders, three of them from players like Robinson Canó and Juan Lagares who have golden glove awards in the majors in their portfolio.
The Eagles had reached the ninth inning 2-3 behind a Silva who had dominated the Dominicans, displayed his great repertoire and mixed his breaking pitches well, most of them on his knees.
Ronald Guzmán delivered the first out, Melky Cabrera started the comeback with an unstoppable right and was immediately replaced by the fast Yefry Pérez, who, although well looked after by Silva, was torn from the middle, Ravelo delivered the second out off, Camargo got a ticket and Junior Lake got an infield hit from a short stop to fill the pads and set the stage for Paulino’s hit.
Wirfin Obispo, who came for Fernando Abad in the ninth inning after conceding the third round for Panama, was the winning pitcher and Silva defeated.
With this win, the Dominicans now face the winner of the second game of the semi-final that will face Puerto Rico against Mexico. The game started at 11:00 PM Dominican time.
Pitching duel
The first five innings turned into a great pitching game between starters Carlos Martínez, for the Aguilas, and Manuel Campos, for the Feds.
The Tsunami had accepted only one basehit, which came in the fourth, a double by David Rodríguez after two outs.
While Campos took a hit off Jonathan Villar with one out in the third.
However, the situation was complicated for both in the sixth, Martínez gave a ticket to Rodrigo Orozco on opening the entrance and anchored in the front room for a foul shot he took on the first try to surprise him, then loaded the bases after hitting Allen Córdoba and David Rodríguez, the latter deciding the Cardinals pitcher’s departure, Luis Castillo came in and forced Héctor Gómez to crawl through the front room.
In the sixth, the Eagles were able to score against Campos, Juan Lagares and Robinson Canó had hits in a row after one out and Ronald Guzmán produced a double past midfield that brought his teammates to the Pentagon for the first two runs.
But this advantage didn’t last and the Feds matched the actions in the seventh on a single by Rodrigo Vigil, who was eliminated on a hit by Belarmino Campos, Jhonny Santos crawled through the short stop, which Canó fired but couldn’t get the ball to hold. and they all came safely, while Orozco singled to the right and drove off the belt in both laps.
KNOWING MORE
“I’m going to finish this game.”
Carlos Paulino
Noticing that the stage offered the Aguilas a chance to win the race, he informed his colleague Francisco Peña. “I’m going to finish it, I told him,” added the recipient, who said this is his biggest career hit.
Cano a terrible defensive series
With the bat, Canó contributed to the Quisqueyanos, not so with his defense, in which he committed two errors yesterday that made it to four in the event. The Eagles made six in the regular and yesterday had five
Assistance
A 10 percent increase in attendance was allowed for the semi-final and final matches.