(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
        WildCats Curaçao empty-handed vs. Puerto Rico in Caribbean Series
Nederlands
  CARACAS / MACUTO, La Guaira State (Venezuela) -
Curaçao-champion WildCats KJ74 suffered a small 3-1 loss against Indios de Mayagüez (Puerto Rico) on Day 5 of the 65th edition of the Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Baseball Series) in Venezuela.
On Monday (February 6), the Curaçao-team trailed early, recovered, but was unable to turn the game around in its favor.
On Monday-evening, Cañeros de Los Mochis (Mexico) handed Venezuelan host Leones del Caracas a 7-0 shutout-loss to take sole possession of first place.
Earlier in the day, Tigres del Licey (Dominican Republic) won with a comfortable 10-1 score against Federales de Chiriquí (Panama).
The day began with a small 5-4 win of Vaqueros de Montería (Colombia) against Agricultores, the representative of Cuba composed of players from the teams of Las Tunas and champion Granma.
As mentioned, the Mexican team is now the sole leader with a 4-1 record.
The teams from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Colombia share second place with a 3-2 record.
WildCats shares fifth place with the teams from Puerto Rico and Panama with a 2-3 record.
Based on the Team Quality Balance, the Curaçao-team is currently in sixth place.
It will be difficult for WildCats to reach the top-4 (and thus the Semi-Finals), as it will meet two of the strongest teams in its remaining two games.
On Tuesday-evening, WildCats meets Venezuelan champion Leones del Caracas.
The team then closes the round-robin on Wednesday against Dominican champion Tigres del Licey.
At the Estadio Monumental de Caracas Simón Bolívar (also called Estadio de Béisbol de La Rinconada) in Caracas, WildCats faced an early 2-0 deficit in the first inning against Indios de Mayagüez, the champion of the professional Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico.
But in the remainder of the game, WildCats did very well.
The team cut the deficit in half in the fifth inning and allowed only one more run in the remainder of the game, but was left empty-handed.
In the top of the first inning, Ray-Patrick Didder led off for Curaçao with a single off of starter Héctor Hernández.
But with one out, he was forced out on a grounder by Sharlon Schoop, who then also was forced out moments later.
Puerto Rico immediately answered with two runs off of Curaçao-starter Jordan Lucas.
With one out, the righthander gave up a single to Ruben Castro, then a double to Emmanuel Rivera.
To set up a force play, next battter Vimael Machin was walked intentionally.
However, the force play didn't come.
Instead, Lucas hit next batter Edwin Díaz with a pitch on an 1-2 count, which led to a run.
A following sacrifice fly by Daniel Ortiz then accounted for the second run.
With runners at the corners, a flyout ended the at bat, but Puerto Rico had taken an early and decisive lead.
WildCats got a chance to do something back in the top of the second inning.
Sicnarf Loopstok led off with a walk, then moved to third base on a one-out single by Dudley Leonora, but they were left behind.
...Nelmerson Angela had a fine outing...
...On the photo, he pitches for Curaçao...
...during the 2022 Baseball Week...
...Haarlem in the Netherlands...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
When Jordan Lucas gave up a lead-off single in the bottom of the second inning, he was relieved by Nelmerson Angela.
The lefthander walked the next batter, then the lead runner was forced out at third base.
Next, Angela got the bases loaded after another walk, but the inning ended when a line drive to second baseman Darren Seferina ended in a double play.
From the third inning on, Nelmerson Angela did very well.
He walked two batters in the third, but they were left behind.
The lefthander then retired the Puerto Rican offense in order in the fourth inning and was supported with another double play in the fifth.
This season, Angela will be on the mound again for Amsterdam Pirates in the Dutch big league.
After leaving a runner behind on first base in both the third and fourth inning, WildCats cut the deficit in half in the top of the fifth, but failed to add more runs.
New Puerto Rican pitcher Fernando Cabrera gave up an one-out single to Dashenko Ricardo, then got the bases loaded when he walked Ray-Patrick Didder and Darren Seferina.
Puerto Rico quickly changed pitchers again and inserted Danny Wirchansky.
He was greeted with a runscoring single from Sharlon Schoop.
That brought in Ricardo and of course, the other runners also advanced.
However, Seferina overran second base and was eliminated.
With runners on first and third base, the inning ended when Andrelton Simmons flied out.
It was to be the final scoring opportunity for the Curaçao-team, which was then retired in order by Wirchansky in the next three innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, Puerto Rico added an insurance run.
Nelmerson Angela, who had given up only one basehit since taking over the pitching in the second inning, gave up singles to Jesmuel Valentín (followed by an error) and Bryan Torres, which gave the team runners at first and third base.
Thereafter, Ryan Huntington took over the pitching, but the lefthander was greeted with an RBI-single by Ruben Castro, which lifted the lead to 3-1.
Still with no outs, the Curaçao-defense then turned another double play and a line-out to centerfield ended the at bat.
In the eighth inning, Kevin Kelly was the new pitcher for WildCats.
With two outs, he walked a batter, but he stranded on first base.
After having scored in the fifth inning, Curaçao was unable to reach base.
As mentioned, the team was retired in order by reliever Danny Wirchansky in the sixth, seventh and eighth inning.
In the top of the ninth, closer Ricardo Gómez did the same, striking out two batters to end the game.
(February 7)
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