Emmanuel Rivera’s historical show against the Athenians in Manati

Emmanuel Rivera had one of the most spectacular shows ever remembered in the history of winter baseball in Puerto Rico this Sunday. The Mayagüez Indians returned high after two weeks of inactivity due to COVID-19 virus infections with a resounding triumph 30-8 Over The Athenians of Manati to place the B 2-0 semifinal in their favor.

It was a historic day at the Pedro Román Meléndez Stadium in Manati. where, in addition to Rivera’s record performance, legendary Major League catcher Yadier Molina returned to the national tournament after an eight-year absence.

Rivera hit two rounds from home and led in ten rounds, an all-time record in both the regular series and the Puerto Rico Winter League playoffs.

According to the portal Baseball101, by historian Jorge Colón Delgado, the brand was eight RBIs shared by Fernando Díaz Pedroso (1947), George Crowe (1951), Félix Torres (1962), Benny Ayala (1973) and Nelson Simmons (playoff-1989) .

Colón Delgado also recalled that this afternoon’s meeting equaled a mark of several marked runs between the two teams. The record was held by a match played on November 7, 1981 in which Santurce defeated Caguas with a score of 20-18.

Rivera was 4-for-5-4 with two home runs, a pair of doubles and three marked runs. In the crash, he hit two home runs of three rounds for a total of six. In his pair of doubles he led the other four.

The athlete, a player with excellent defensive qualities, admitted that he found out about the record he set as soon as the game ended.

“I did not know anything. Héctor Otero (manager) just told me. I found out after the game “Rivera said The new day. “I am just happy to be here. I didn’t know it was a record. It’s another achievement in my career. “

Rivera, chosen as the third base in the All Stars of the winter league, said that, once he was replaced in the game by the manager Luis Matos, he was informed of his phase of being pushed those ten rounds.

“I hadn’t thought about it, but in the seventh half when Luis Matos (manager) took me out and put another boy in, they said, ‘You pushed ten runs.’ That’s when I came to find out because I didn’t even know how many I had. I had never been in this situation before. I still can’t believe it. “

Did you save races to push tomorrow (Monday)?

“Sure, we work for it,” he said with a laugh.

The total run by the Indians is also a mark in national baseball. The 30 entrants leave behind the record of 23 achieved by the disappearance of Brujos de Guayama in 1939, when they defeated Cangrejeros de Santurce with 23-0

The performance of third baseman Mayaguez joined other notable performances in the game. Kennys Vargas drove in five laps and Iván de Jesús Jr. brought four more to the tire to add 19 of the 30 visitors. In addition, De Jesús Jr. received five walks. He entered into one of the all-time connections of Luke Easter (1955). He also scored five times.

The Indians will return to Manati tomorrow for the third game in the B semifinal. The series is a maximum of seven. The winner goes to the final to face Criollos de Caguas who have been waiting for two weeks to meet their rival.

After the B semifinal was stopped on January 2 due to four positive cases of coronavirus detected in the team, which later increased to 11, the ninth Mayagüez opened the game with a return in the second half, following a home action of Kennys Vargas and three more in the third product of a house run by Jeremy Rivera and a double by Emmanuel Rivera.

In the fifth, they added five more in which the first of Emmanuel Rivera’s two homers intervened.

The Indians, who had a good piece from the left Héctor Hernández, continued their offensive game by scoring nine more lines in the sixth, although they were not satisfied with this advantage and stepped on the plateau nine times at the top of the act eight.

On Sunday, other special shows were Danny Ortiz and Jeremy Rivera, who qualified 4-for-7. The Indians closed the afternoon with 25 blows.

For the Athenians, Molina, who joined Manati as a reserve because he belongs to Carolina Giants, finished third in the line as designated and went 1 for 5 with a marked race..