Venezuela's no-hitter, Puerto Rico's rally secure Caribbean Series semis spots
Tuesday evening at the Caribbean Series, the Indios de Mayagüez (Puerto Rico) flipped the script from Monday’s loss to Cardenales de Lara (Venezuela), coming back from an early 5-1 deficit against the Leones del Escogido (Dominican Republic) to win 10-7 and clinch a spot in Wednesday’s semifinal knockout round at Estadio Nido de las Águilas in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. Both the Dominican and Puerto Rican squads finished the first round of play with 2-2 records, with the host country’s Charros de Jalisco (4-0) as the No. 1 seed for the semifinals.
With the Puerto Rican club’s victory in Tuesday’s first game, the nightcap became a winner-take-all for the fourth and final semifinal spot between the Venezuelan club and the Japan Breeze. And for the second year in a row, a Venezuelan club made history in the Caribbean Series with a no-hitter. Now, the Cardenales de Lara will look to ride that momentum to another win in Wednesday’s semifinal contest against the Leones del Escogido (Dominican Republic) in the first knockout stage game at Mexicali’s Estadio Nido de las Águilas.
Cardenales starter Jesús Vargas threw an eight-inning no-hitter vs. the Japanese representative in a 10-0 win for Venezuela that ended when manager Henry Blanco’s club went up by double-digits in the bottom of the eighth.
This is the second year in a row for a no-hitter – albeit an unofficial one by virtue of the game's length – by a Venezuelan club in the Caribbean Series, after Ángel Padrón’s no-no against Nicaragua at loanDepot park in Miami in 2024. The only other no-hitter in the history of the event was in 1952, by Cuba's Tommy Fine vs. Panama in the tournament’s “First Stage” (1949-60).
Venezuela will take on the Dominican Republic in the first semifinal matchup at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and Mexico will face Puerto Rico at 10 p.m. The winners of Wednesday’s semifinal contests will play in the tournament’s championship game on Friday at 10 p.m. The losers will play the third-place game on Thursday, also at 10 p.m.
Tuesday’s first game was a complete reversal for the Puerto Rican squad managed by Wil Cordero. In Monday’s game vs. the Cardenales, Mayagüez took a 5-1 lead into the top of the fourth inning, only to see the Venezuelan club score nine unanswered runs for a 10-5 win. In the contest against the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico fell behind 5-1 in the bottom of the first thanks to three unearned runs off its starter Eduardo Rivera, with the big blow being a three-run homer by Junior Lake after second baseman Shed Long Jr.’s error kept the inning alive.
After a run-scoring triple by Isán Díaz and an RBI single by Long cut the Leones’ lead to 5-3 in the second, the Dominican club managed by Albert Pujols regained a four-run advantage in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by Sandber Pimentel and a double-steal of second and home on which Junior Lake scored to make it 7-3.
Mayagüez would storm back, however. After a fielder’s choice RBI by Rubén Castro cut the lead to 7-4 in the fifth, 2021 NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario tied the game in the top of the eighth with a bases-loaded single that scored all three runners after Dominican Republic first baseman Yamaico Navarro mishandled the relay throw from right fielder Sócrates Brito. Later in the inning, Rosario would give the Puerto Rican team the lead when he scampered home on a wild pitch by Leones reliever Jimmy Cordero, and an RBI double by Long made it 9-7.
In the top of the ninth, Anthony García added an insurance run with a solo home run off Phillips Valdez, the Dominican Republic’s seventh pitcher of the day.
After Rivera’s 2 2/3 inning start with seven runs allowed (four earned), Mayagüez’s bullpen held the Leones scoreless in the last 6 1/3 frames with Héctor Santiago, Carlos Francisco, José de León and Justin Yeager scattering seven hits. De León picked up a hold after pitching the eighth, while Yeager notched the save with his scoreless ninth.
For the Dominican Republic, the losing pitcher was reliever Joe Corbett, who was charged with five earned runs in 2/3 of an inning.