Puerto Rico leaves Caimanes in Colombia on the ground

Puerto Rican catcher Jonathan Morales walked with the plates full of teammates and thus facilitated the race that gave Criollos de Caguas of Puerto Rico a 2-1 victory over Caimanes de Barranquilla of Colombia to qualify for the semifinals of the Caribbean Mazatlán 2021.

Puerto Rico improved to 3-1 and is the second team to advance to the next round. Earlier in the day, Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Republic claimed the first ticket, defeating Venezuela’s Caribes de Anzoátegui 2-0 to remain undefeated in the tournament (4-0).

Puerto Rico is missing a regular season match. It will be played on Thursday at 14:00 (Puerto Rico time) against Chiriquí Federals from Panama, who played Tomateros de Culiacán from Mexico on Wednesday afternoon.

In the pitchers’ duel, the Colombians used five pitchers who limited the Puerto Ricans to just four shots. Puerto Rico used the same amount and dealt three blows to the South Americans. Both teams hit 10 times.

The decisive sequence came at the bottom of the ninth, when after José Miranda started with an attacking shot, Johneshwy Fargas hit a ball in the center that became a double. Vimael Machin, who followed the order, deliberately went before Fargas stole third base during Reymond Fuentes’ turn.

With runners in the corners and one out, the Alligators decided to intentionally go to Fuentes with one out to load the bases and look for a double-rescue game. But pitcher Cody Mincey couldn’t get Morales to hit a field that knocked him down inside the field and ended up giving him the walk that led to Fargas from the third.

The alligators were the first to score when they broke the ice on top of the second.

After an exit, the Puerto Rican holder, Tommy Romero, gave the passport to Dilson Herrera. Then, the next hitter, Jairo Diaz hit a double to the right on the field that made Herrera step on the plateau.

Meanwhile, Colombian starter Reiver Sanmartin continued to easily dominate the Puerto Rican offensive in the first five innings. In those, Southpaw gave up only three shots, one run and hit eight.

The three blunders that Sanmartin gave appeared in the loss of the third episode. Jonathan Morales led the shot with a single to center in the bottom of the third half, and after Edwin Diaz broke out, Jarren Duran led Morales to second with another single.

Henry Ramos hit the shortstop and forced Morales to finish in third place, although Durán finished in second place, scoring a single from the left by Yadier Molina.