- Caribbean Baseball Series. Mexico finally gets first win in Caribbean Series, stunning Dominican Republic
- Caribbean Series 2024. Mexico chokes against Panama after comfortable lead
A huge six-run rally by Venezuela's Tiburones de La Guaira buried the hopes of a miraculous comeback by Mexico's Naranjeros from Hermosillo, who have been eliminated from the possibility of reaching the semifinals of the Caribbean Series 2024 by losing on Monday at LoanDepot Park by a score of 6-1.
In the third inning, left-handed pitcher Zach Matson allowed the first hit of the game when Alexi Amarista hit a single to the opposite side and put two men on base with only one out, however, he dominated the next two batters with a fly to the box to keep the score at zero.
Mexico's first hit came with two outs in the bottom of the third inning when second baseman Irving Lopez made solid to center field for a single that broke Ricardo Pinto's string of eight retirements in a row to start the game.
Mexico's offense woke up by producing three hits, first José Cardona and later Roberto Valenzuela, the latter opened the scoring by driving in López from third base.
The new offensive warning from the Mexican team came in the fifth inning, however, on Randy Romero's hit, Alexis Wilson tried to get to third base with one out but a fabulous throw by right fielder Ramon Flores to right fielder Hernan Perez, could not prevent Mexico from having bases loaded, however, Aaron Altherr did not take the opportunity and was out with a single to second base to conclude the exciting inning.
Mexico's nightmare in the seventh inning
In the seventh inning, the Tiburones de La Guaira, turned the game around by hitting four singles that brought to the plate two runs, both on the count of pitcher Juan Gamez, the first produced by Alexi Amarista and scored by Leonardo Reginatto and the second through an unearned run by Wilfredo Tovar that brought Alcides Escobar to the plate.
The nightmare continued as Wilson Ramos produced another single that drove Alexi Amarista home before Curtis Taylor's pitching and the world came crashing down on Mexico's Hermosillo's Naranjeros, with Elkin Alcalá on the mound and with bases-loaded, Luis Torres' double produced three runs (Wilfredo Tovar, Wilson Ramos, and Hernán Pérez) to secure the South American triumph.
Mexico (1-4) will close its participation on Tuesday when they face Gigantes de Rivas of Nicaragua, while Venezuela (3-1) still has a couple of games, on Tuesday against Federales from Chiriqui of Panama and on Wednesday against the Nicaraguan team to consolidate its position towards the semifinals of this tournament.