The Caribes de Anzoategui (Venezuela) have qualified for the semifinals of the Caribbean Series after defeating the Gigantes Del Cibao (Dominican Republic) 6-5 in a marathon baseball game that lasted for four hours and two minutes at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico yesterday, Wednesday 4 February 2015. <\/p>\n
This was Venezuela’s second victory and it now joins Mexico as the first teams to qualify for the second round. <\/p>\n
The Dominican team has to win its next game against Mexico at 7:30 pm this evening, Thursday 5 February 2015 in order to qualify for the semifinal round of play. <\/p>\n
Yesterday’s game was marked by outstanding relief pitching by both teams as the Dominicans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but pitcher Edward Valdez was not able to get three outs as Venezuela scored four runs in the same inning. In a second inning the Gigantes scored three runs to take a 5-4 lead. Venezuela came back with a homerun by Niuman Romero to tie the game and took the definitive lead (6-5) on a walk, and two hits. From there on the game was a battle of relief pitchers for 7 2\/3 innings as the Dominican team had several opportunities to tie the game despite striking out eleven times, as the third, fourth and fifth hitters went 1 for 13, striking out seven times and leaving nine runners on the bases. In tonight’s game against Mexico, Patrick Frazier will be the opening pitcher in the last game of this section of the tournament. It is a “win or go home” game.<\/p>\n
The tournament is being played between Cuba (Pinar del Rio), Venezuela (Caribes de Anzoategui), Mexico (Tomateros de Culiacan) and Puerto Rico (Cangrejeros de Santurce) from 2-8 February 2015. <\/p>\n
The next Dominican games will be: <\/p>\n
Thursday, 5 February – DR vs. Mexico at 7:30pm <\/p>\n
Friday, 6 February – DR vs. Puerto Rico at 7:30pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Caribes de Anzoategui (Venezuela) have qualified for the semifinals of the Caribbean Series after defeating the Gigantes Del Cibao (Dominican Republic) 6-5 in a marathon baseball game that lasted for four hours and two minutes at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico yesterday, Wednesday 4 February 2015. This was Venezuela’s second … <\/p>\n