Puerto Rico falls to Mexico and is eliminated in the Caribbean Series

Santo Domingo. Puerto Rico was eliminated this Monday from the Caribbean Series suffering its fourth consecutive setback with another poor offensive display.

The Caguas Creoles they became the first team to fail to advance to the next stage of the tournament, after being whitewashed 5-0 by Mexico’s Charros de Jalisco at the Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal.

With a mark of 0-4, the Puerto Ricans will end their participation tomorrow, Tuesday, by facing Colombia at 10:30 am

The last time a Puerto Rican representation failed to qualify for the semifinals was in 2019 in Panama, when it finished with a 0-4 mark. It was with the Cangrejeros de Santurce.

Here in the Dominican, Ponce’s Leones were winless in six games in 2004.

Mexico, with the win, improved its record to 2-2. Venezuela and the Dominican Republic are already in the semifinals. Colombia with 2-1 and Panama with 1-3 are still alive.

The Criollos’ offensive debacle extended to this game. In the first five innings they left seven men in circulation and just went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

In the fifth inning they left the bases loaded, when the third batter Emmanuel Rivera and the fourth David Vidal were eliminated without being able to take any of the runners to the plate.

Before the game, Puerto Rico had only had two hits in 20 at-bats with runners on third or second base. The frustration enveloped the players in the dugout and the few Puerto Rican fans in the stands. They were unable to produce offensively in the first four games of the tournament, beginning with a painful 3-2 loss to Panama.

Today, from the first inning, the enthusiasm of the Puerto Ricans seemed to fade when their rival scored two runs. For the third game in a row they fell behind first on the board. They already felt the pressure to wake up offensively and never did despite the roster changes.

The Charros wasted no time attacking right-hander Oscar de la Cruz. José Cardona led off with a single and lefty Jesús Quiroz found a pitch inside the plate and disappeared it to the right to make it 2-0.

The attack of the Aztecs continued in the third act with another two goals, extending the lead 4-0 and causing the departure of Oscar de la Cruz.

With runners on second and first base, Victor Mendoza hit a double down the first base line, driving in Cardona. And immediately, Japhet Amador singled to bring Quiroz to the plate with the Charros’ fourth score.

De la Cruz only completed 2 1/3 innings and gave up four hits with four runs to carry the backhand.

For the Charros, starter Nick Stuck completed 5.2 innings and gave up five hits without runs. He won the game.