VENEZUELA PLAYS SPOILER ELIMINATING THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 3-2

February 6, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment

: Luis Maza of Venezuela gets Ronnie Paulino of the DR out at 2nd.

By Guille Esquivel
Exclusive for www.eBeisbol.com

Tigres de Aragua beat the Tigres del Licey 3-2 dashing their hopes of repeating as Caribbean Series Champions. Licey who is the winningest team in Caribbean Series history with ten crowns has never won back to back titles.

The Tigres del Licey were on the brink of elimination going into Day 4 of the Caribbean Series and tried their best to stay alive another day. After displaying their great offensive power on Wednesday night putting up nine runs against Mexico, the Dominican Republic reverted back to the team that struggled to get runs on the board. They opened up the game scoring a quick two in the first inning to take the early lead, 2-0 on Ronny Paulino’s 2-run homerun to right field. That would be the last time that the Dominican Republic would be heard from again.

Aragua scored in the third when Jackson Melian hit an infield single to first scoring Ramon Castro cutting the deficit in half, 2-1. Later in the inning, Venezuela added two more to take the 3-2 lead while never looking back.
Venezuela elected to start Yohan Pino who had previously appeared against the Tigres del Licey in the first game where they beat them, 3-2. Pino lasted two innings allowing two runs on five hits before giving way to eventual winner Oswaldo Sosa who worked two scoreless innings of relief. Francisco Butto got the save to become the leader in saves in this edition with three.

The Tigres del Licey who arrived on Sunday night after having not played since the previous Sunday because of their sweep of the Gigantes del Cibao did not seem to be in tune out on the playing field having committed six costly errors in their first four games. Ronnie Belliard of the Tigres del Licey is not one for excuses, but did mention that the lack of playing for over a week definitely played a role in their performance. The Dominican Republic has a chance to finish the series at .500 if they win their last two games.

Friday will feature a match up between two eliminated teams in the form of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.