The Licey Tigers saved their best effort for last. Barely sneaking into the semifinal, the Licey Tigers team gathered speed and won the three games (versus Curacao, Mexico and Venezuela) they needed to win to bring home the Caribbean Series trophy 2023.
The DR competed against Vaqueros de Monteria (Colombia), Agricultores (Cuba), WildCats (Curacao), Cañeros de los Mochis (Mexico), Federales de Chiriqui (Panama), Indios de Mayaguez (Puerto Rico) and Leones del Caracas (Venezuela).
Mexico was the first to qualify for the semifinals, only to lose to the Dominican Republic in the semifinal crucial game. The Dominican team would win the series with a 3-0 victory over host club Venezuela in Caracas on Friday, 10 February 2023.
MLB reports on the championship game. In that game, the DR scored single runs in the top of the second, fifth and ninth innings, but the biggest lift came from the mound, where starter César Valdez threw 6 1/3 scoreless frames while yielding only three hits, walking none and striking out six. The 37-year-old right-hander threw 78 pitches — 54 for strikes — before turning things over to the bullpen, which silenced Venezuela’s bats the rest of the way.
The DR got on the scoreboard in the second inning, when Kelvin Gutiérrez drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Gustavo Nunez opened with a single and came around to score on a single by Yamaico Navarro. And in the ninth, the DR got an insurance run thanks to a throwing error by Venezuela third baseman Hernan Perez.
Relievers Jonathan Aro (two-thirds of an inning), Fernando Abad (one) and Jairo Asencio (one) blanked Venezuela for 2 2/3 hitless innings to clinch the championship for the D.R.
The win is the 11th time the Licey Tigers have won the title and yet the first time since 2008. No other club has won more Caribbean Series. With the win, the Dominican Republic leads with 22nd Caribbean Series championships.
Pitcher Valdez was named Caribbean Series MVP after throwing 12- 1/3 scoreless innings while giving up only six hits, walking none and striking out 10.
The slow start of the Dominican team is evidenced in the fact that Emilio Bonifacio was the only Tigres del Licey player to make the All Stars Team of the 65th edition of the Caribbean Series.
This was the first victory for Licey after a 15 year drought, and even better with a Dominican manager, Jose Offerman. Licey has also won titles in the Caribbean series under the guidance of Manny Mota, the Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, Rob Rogers, and Casey Parsons.
The DR record was:
Pool Play
2 February: Loss to Mexico (5-4)
3 February: Win to Cuba (3-1)
4 February: Win to Puerto Rico (6-4)
5 February: Loss to Venezuela (3-2)
6 February: Win to Panama (10-1)
7 February: Loss to Colombia (11-1)
Semi-finals
8 February: Win to Curacao (6-2)
9 February: Win to Mexico (8-3)
Final
10 February: Win to Venezuela (3-0)
Read more:
El Dia
MLB
Noticias SIN
Diario Libre
13 February 2023