February 3, 2020
By Lewis Rubman
Panama (1-2) 1 4 2
Mexico (2-1) 6 11 1
HATO REY, PUERTO RICO–After losing its Caribbean Series opener to Venezuela to the Dominican Republic on Saturday afternoon, Mexico, represented by the Tomateros (Tomato Growers) of Culiacán, bounced back by defeating Puerto Rico yesterday afternoon and trouncing Panama’s entry, Chiquirí Astronautas, 6-1, in this morning’s contest.
Mexico’s right handed starter, Yoanys Quiala was sharp through all seven innings he pitched, shutting out the Astros over four and two-third innings. When he left the game, Quiala had faced 81 batters and surrendered just three hits and struck out four without a walk.
The one run he allowed was earned, coming on a ground out by Edgardo Thomas that followed singles by Edgar Muñoz and Rodrigo Orozco. Zach Dotson and Aldo Montes, each of whom pitched a scoreless inning. Dotson gave up a hit; Montes didn’t. Thanks to the Tomateros’ potent offense, there was no save.
That offense struck early. Joey Meneses led off the second with a double to left. Dariel Alvarez promptly drove him home with a single to center. After a pausing while Alan Sánchez flew out to center, the Mexican offensive resumed its work of destruction and José Guadalupe Chávez drove in both runners, in spite of the intervening strike out of Ricardo Valenzuela.
Culiacán tacked on a couple of runs in the fifth, thanks to a double by Ramiro Peña, who advanced to third when Panama’s second baseman, Geral Chin, bobbled Antony Giansanti’s grounder. Peña scored on Meneses’s single to right center, which allowed Giansanti to get all the way around to third. He crossed the plate on a sacrifice liner to center by Alvarez.
Panama got its face saving run in the top of the sixth on singles by Muñoz and Orozco, followed by Eduardo Thomas’s slow grounder to second, which allowed Muñoz to dash across the plate.
An error by Astrós third sacker, Isaías Velásquez, put Ramiro Ríos on first. Ricardo Valenzuela’s single sent him to third. Chávez´s sac fly drove him home with the final tally.
The loss went to José Mesa, who faced 23 batters over 4-2/3 innings in which he allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits. Luis Ramos allowed a run on two hits in his inning of work, and Wilfredo Pereira held Mexico to a single hit in his two and third frames.
From the sound of things, the game between the Dominican Republic and Colombia is starting now.
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