The Tigres del Licey crowned their great season in 2022-23 with the conquest of the Caribbean Series this Friday, oh and they did it with a shutout.
César Valdez pitched superbly during 6-1 innings, Kelvin Gutiérrez drove in one with a sacrifice fly, Yamaico Navarro hit a single that brought up another and the Dominicans blanked the Leones de Caracas 3-0 in a La Rinconada stadium that was packed with fans.
Once again, Valdez exalted himself as the great pitcher he has been in recent years, with a superb performance on the mound in which, for the second straight appearance, he did not allow the Venezuelans any liberties.
The right-hander worked in the first 6.1 innings in which he was tagged with three hits, no run, no ticket and fanned out six. His performance received the support of Jonathan Aro, Fernando Abad and Jairo Asencio, who scored the rescue, after removing the opposition without problems in the ninth. For the historic reliever it was his third save in the Series.
Valdez left the match after 6.1, after suffering an elbow injury, and was replaced by Aro. The Dominican was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the contest, after his work of 12.1 innings in which he did not allow a single round.
The success gives Licey the 11th trophy in its Caribbean Series history and just the first in the last 14 years, when they won the crown at the Cibao stadium in Santiago.
By winning the Clásico del Caribe, the Dominican Republic as a country has obtained it for the 22nd time since they began participating in these events in 1970 and three in the past four years, when the Bulls conquered it in 2020 and the Aguilas did it a year later. Last year, the Giants lost 4-1 to Colombia in the final game.
Venezuela, which was the team with the highest offense in the Series, was unable to hit against the Dominicans in any of the games and leaves again empty-handed on their own stage. The last time they were crowned was in 2009 in Mexicali, when the Tigres de Aragua won.
This time the Tigers were able to score against Erick Leal, who had two rounds scored, one of which was undeserved. He stayed in the box for 4.2 episodes.
Once again it was a low-scoring clash between these two teams, since in the first the first nine acts culminated without a race and it was not until episode 12 when the outcome of it occurred, which was 3-2.
El Licey did not wait long and scored an early return against Erick Leal, the starter for Venezuela, when in the second act, Henry Urrutia received a walk, Mel Rojas Jr. singled and Kelvin Gutiérrez produced a sacrifice fly.
In the fifth the quisqueyanos scored one more round, Bonifacio hit a single, Robinson Canó crawled around the pitcher’s property, who made a bad shot to first base and Yamaico Navarro connected a long single towards the left field wall, which brought the second .