The Cuban baseball team participating in the Greater Caracas 2023 Caribbean Series lost (3-1) this Friday against the Dominican Republic in a duel marked by the dominance of the pitchers and the defensive failures of the Antillean squad, which promptly lost the concentration in the third episode and paid for it with the defeat.
At the end of the first third, with Dominican runners at the corners for a walk and a single, catcher Yosvany Alarcón made a throwing error to second base that opened the doors of the plate for Luis Barrera with the first score of the ninth from Dominican Republic.
In La Guaira, the mask from Las Tunas looked desperate in the play, to the point that his shot to second came when the runner from first base had not even reached halfway in his attempted steal.
That action also drove Cuban opener Jonathan Carbó out of his boxes, who lost the route. With a man on second and one out, he transferred to Emilio Bonifacio and then Robinson Canó got an infield hit that drove in the second Dominican score.
To put the lid on the knob, Ramón Hernández hit a ground ball to third base that could have turned into a double play, but waiter Yordanis Alarcón got the ball stuck in his glove and threw poorly to first, which allowed Bonifacio to score the third. of the crash.
From there, the Cuban relief team entered the scene and controlled the situation. Kelbis Rodríguez and Miguel Paradelo walked 6.2 innings, in which nine men reached base (eight hits and one walk), but they managed to dominate in key moments and maintain the difference on the scoreboard.
By the way, the Agricultores fire extinguishers have left the best marks for Cuba in this edition of the Caribbean Series. Between Andy Vargas, Kelbis and Paradelo they have pitched 9.2 scoreless innings and one walk in 35 at-bats.
However, they have found little offensive support. This Friday, the Antillean batch hit seven hits, but they left seven runners in circulation. In addition, between Raico Santos, Yordanis Alarcón, Yosvany Alarcón and Rafael Viñales, located from the second to the fifth turn, they only hit one single in 16 turns, with three strikeouts included.
The only run for Cuba was produced by Guillermo Avilés’ low shootout by rocket, an error by the left fielder in the fielding and an RBI double by Andrés De La Cruz, who has been the greatest revelation of Agricultores’ artillery.
For the Tigres del Licey, Dominican representatives in this Caribbean Series, Henry Urrutia from Las Tunas took the fourth turn in the order and went scoreless in four turns, with a strikeout on his account.
The day left interesting results and almost total parity in the standings, since Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, winners on the opening date, lost in their second commitments.
For this Saturday, Carlos Martí’s Agricultores will face the hosts Leones del Caracas at the La Rinconada stadium in the stellar duel of the day (6:30 pm).
