Puerto Rico beats Mexico 5-3 for their first victory

by Guille Esquivel

 Ebeisbol Exclusive

Puerto Rico finally broke through to record their first victory by handing Mexico their second consecutive loss defeating them 5-3 in what was a must-win situation for both.

The matchup featured American Bill Pulsipher pitching for the Indios de Mayaguez while Australian Travis Blackley was on the mound for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo.

Puerto Rico with a lot on the line was determined to go down swinging. In the first inning they jumped on Blackley. They opened up the inning with a double by Jose Feliciano whose flyball was misplayed by Luis Cruz in left centerfield. Luis Figueroa and Miguel Abreu hit back to back singles and Feliciano came in to score. Randy Ruiz who hit a home run the night before singled to center scoring Figueroa and Abreu to take the 3-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, the Mexican team finally got on the board when Ruben Rivera reached base on shortstop Angel Sanchez’ error allowing Vinny Castilla to score. Two batters later, Saul Soto also reached base on an error by Figueroa and Luis Garcia came in to score, Mexico trailed 3-2. The Puerto Rican defense committed four errors that did not prove to be costly.

Pulsipher struggled in the fifth inning and the Naranjeros loaded the bases, but he induced a flyout to left field by Ruben Rivera to end the inning.

Pulsipher pitched five innings allowing one earned run, while walking two and striking out two.

The Puerto Rican team continued their hit parade opening the bottom of the fifth inning with back to back singles off of Blackley. Manager Homar Rojas pulled him and brought in Francisco Campos known as “Pancho Ponches” for his strikeouts. Campos didn’t let his team down as he struck out two and baserunner Figueroa was gunned down at third in a strike ‘em out throw ‘em out play to end the threat.

Losing pitcher Blackley pitched four innings allowing three runs and striking out five without allowing a walk.

Mayaguez pulled away in the bottom of the sixth when Hernandez took Campos deep to left center for the two run shot and the 5-2 lead. Hernandez went 1-3 with a home run and two RBI.

In their last at bat, Mexico rallied when Humberto Cota singled to get on base and two batters later Cruz singled him in to make it a 5-3 game. With two outs and one man on, Castilla came up to bat and hit a hard line drive to short that Sanchez leapt high and speared to end the game.

With the win Puerto Rico ties Mexico with a 1-2 record. They will face the Dominican Republic who they lost to in a close 2-1 game in their first meeting.

The Naranjeros will face Venezuela in the nightcap hoping to duplicate their performance in their first meeting.