In a match not suitable for the faint of heart, the Leones de Caracas got the better of their match against the Tigres del Licey in what was the conclusion of the fourth day of the Caribbean Series.
José Rondón hit a double merit hit that drove in Isaias Tejeda from second base so that Caracas of Venezuela beat Licey of the Dominican Republic 3-2 in a clash that lasted 12 innings.
Rondón had also pushed the turn of the tie in episode 10 and already has nine produced in the series.
It was a game in which the pitching dominated almost at will, in the case of Venezuela it forced the Dominican bats to go 1-19 with runners in scoring position.
After the result, Venezuela now has a 3-1 record, while the Tigers place their record at 2-2.
The Dominicans had gone ahead with the pinch runner at second in both the 10th and 11th innings, but the Venezuelans fought back at every opportunity.
In the tenth, the Blues placed the designated runner, which in this case was Kelvin Gutiérrez, at second base, advanced to third base by grounding into Wester Rivas’ infield and entered the race on deflected pitching by Anthony Vizcaya.
At the conclusion of that inning, Caracas evened against Jairo Asencio when José Rondón singled home Hernán Pérez, who had been the pinch runner for Caracas.
In the eleventh with Ramón Torres running at second base, Henry Urrutia doubled to right field that drove in second for the cats. With this hit from the Cuban, Licey broke a 16-0 drought that they had in the game hitting with runners in scoring position.
The Lions equalized at the end of that act, when Ali Castillo scored on the run from second base, after Gustavo Núñez missed a shot from outfielder Emilio Bonifacio on a fly ball connected by his property and which was the second out of the episode. Lisalverto Bonilla, the Licey pitcher in the act, then fanned Isaias Tejeda.
El Licey, who had not taken advantage of several opportunities to score runs, a fact that happened every time after the sixth chapter.
At least since the sixth act, when each time they placed runners in scoring position and The clash was a great pitching duel starting with the openers César Valdez for Licey and Erick Leal for the Leones, in which neither of them allowed liberties in his six-inning stints on the mound.
On this occasion, the Venezuelans could not even remotely connect the arsenal of hits they had on Saturday against Cuba, 25, much less the number of rounds, 20.
In the sixth, Licey lost a great opportunity to score a run when Junior Lake led off with a walk, Núñez continued with a single to center, which brought Lake to third base, but Leal struck out Bonifacio, Núñez was tagged out on an attempted steal and Canó rose to the left to complete the act.
An inning later, Hernández led off with his third hit of the game, reaching second with one out, but neither Henry Urrutia, Mel Rojas Jr and Kelvin Gutiérrez could do anything.
In the eighth, Michael de la Cruz reached on left fielder Danry Vásquez’s two-base error, but Lake struck out as Núñez and Bonifacio scrambled across the field at second base.
For the Licey, Hernández and Núñez shot a double and two singles each, Canó produced a tubey. For Caracas, Isaias Tejeda a double, Orlando Arcia and Hernán Pérez