Puerto Rico and Mexico matched up on Day 6 with both teams throwing their Day 1 starters: Mario Santiago (Royals) from Puerto Rico versus Pablo Ortega from Mexico. Both pitchers went quickly through the first inning, but Ortega got into trouble in the second, not that his team’s defense helped.

Luis Figueroa is congratulated by teammates after scoring

Catcher Edwards Guzman singled to right field with shortstop Angel Sanchez on first. Sanchez went to third on the hit but Mexican rightfielder Karim Garcia misplayed the ball (i.e. ran by the ball) and Sanchez scored with Guzman going to third. Leftfielder Miguel Abreu (Orioles) followed with an RBI hit to right field but Garcia did not cut off the ball and it rolled all the way to the wall. Abreu went to third and centerfielder Jesus Feliciano (Mets) followed with an RBI single. All-in-all, Puerto Rico scored three runs on four hits in the inning.

Neither starter was as good as their first outings in the Caribbean Series. Ortega went just four innings allowing the three runs on seven hits. Santiago gave up a two-run bomb into the left field bleachers to Mexico’s shortstop Luis Cruz (Brewers) in the fourth inning. Santiago went just five innings allowing four hits and two runs (though none were earned because Sanchez made yet another error before Cruz hit his homerun) while striking out three.

The Puerto Rican offense (which had been the best after the first two games) went to work against the Mexican bullpen. In the fifth inning off of Hector Rodriguez, rightfielder Armando Rios delivered an RBI double, followed by an RBI single from Randy Ruiz (Blue Jays). In the sixth inning off of usually reliable reliever Mario Mendoza, Feliciano delivered an RBI single and Rios ripped a two-run double. The scoring increased the Puerto Rican lead to 8-2 and with the dominant relief work of Pete Parise (2 IP), Bill Simas, and Saul Rivera (Indians), Puerto Rico improved to 4-2. Their win meant that the Dominican Republic would need to beat Venezuela at night to avoid a championship tie-breaker on Monday.

The Dominican Republic sent their Day 1 starter, Raul Valdes, to the mound against Venezuela. Venezuela on the other hand sent Ramon Ramirez (Red Sox) to the mound even though he struggled in winter ball and had yet to pitch in the series. The lineup for Venezuela was also different as quite a few bench players were starting (like Venezuela was throwing up the white flag). Ramirez struck out the side in the top of the first but he also allowed four runs on three hits, two walks, a wild pitch, and a run-scoring balk. His defense also committed two throwing errors that led to runs in the inning.

The Dominicans celebrate

That first inning was all for Ramirez and in came Eric Junge. Junge pitched five solid innings for Venezuela to try and keep them in the game, though he tired and gave up two runs. Rightfielder Cesar Quintero, playing in his first game, blasted a three-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the Dominicans lead to 6-4. Unfortunately for Venezuela, that was all they could muster against Valdes (5IP, 3H, 4R, 2BB, 5K) and the Dominican Republic bullpen of Juan Perez, Joel Peralta, Julio Manon, and Dario Veras combined to shutout the Venezuelans in the final four innings.

After the final out, the Dominicans celebrated their 18^th Caribbean Series title by taking a victory lap, waving Dominican flags throughout their run. Next year, the series will move to Puerto Rico where the Dominican Republic will try to defend their title.