tomateros.com photo

By Lewis Rubman

Puerto Rico (1-1) 2 8 2

Mexico (1-1) 4 11 0

HATO REY, PUERTO RICO–This afternoon’s match up between the Santurce Cangrejeros (Crabbers), Puerto Rico’s team, playing today as the visitors, and Mexico’s representative, the Culiacán Tomateros (Tomato Growers) began as if it might be a replay of the mornings pitchers’ duel between Colombia and Panama.

The score was tied at one all for the first four and a half innings, the Crabbers’ tally coming on a solo home run into the right field bleachers off the bat of Jan Hernández in the top of the second, the first round tripper of the Series. The Tomateros caught up in the bottom of the third by stringing together a couple of singles, a sacrifice bunt, and an infield out that brought their first run home.

Two innings later, the complexion of the contest changed. Culiacán’s right fielder, Sebastián Elizalde, who had watched Hernández’s blast sail over his head in the second, now sent his own into the cheap (or at least cheaper seats) in right. But with one difference; there were two men on board when Elizalde launched his liner. The game was no slugfest or a blowout, but the prospect of pitchers mastering batters had disappeared.

Santurce came charging back in their half of the sixth. An error by Puerto Rico’s third sacker, Emmanuel Rivera, had allowed one of the runners who scored on Elizondo’s clout two reach base. Rivera atoned for that sin by driving in Iván de Jesús, Jr., from first on a double to left.

That was all the scoring. Puerto Rico had some chances but blew them. In the seventh, they had men on second and third with no outs. It wasn’t good pitching that saved Mexico’s bacon then; it was bad base running. Reliever Derrick Loop picked pinch runner Alexis Pantoja off second to break the back of the rally.

Both teams now are tied at 1-1 with Panama for third place. Venezuela, who plays the Dominican tonight, is undefeated and leads the pack by a half a game. The Dominicans trail the three tied teams by a half a game and leads the 0-2 Panama squad by the same margin.

Manuel Barrreda, Mexico’s starting pitcher, picked up the win. He gave up five hits and one run, earned, in his five innings of work, throwing 78 pitches, 49 of which were strikes, according to baseball’s weird accounting system that considers any pitch a bat makes contact with a strike. Adalberto Baldonado, who faced three batters in the ninth, K’ing two of them, notched the save. PUerto Rico’s Giovanni Soto was charged with the loss. He gave up four runs (three earned) on eight hits in four and a third innings.

Tomorrow’s schedule calls for Panama to play Mexico in the morning, the Dominican Republic to face Colombia in the afternoon, and Puerto Rico to duke it out with Venezuela under the lights.