Castro’s walk-off single lifts Cangrejeros in Caribbean Series opener
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
By THE STAR STAFF
A two-out, two-run single by Rubén Castro allowed the Cangrejeros of Puerto Rico to walk off in victory over the Tomateros of Mexico, 5-4, on Sunday at Pan American Stadium in Zapopan as the Caribbean Series got underway in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
“I wasn’t thinking too much [during my at-bat]. I just wanted to execute and make contact to help the team as much as I could,” Castro said at the post-game press conference. “At the beginning of the at-bat, I saw the speed of his fastball and I prepared for that pitch.”
Indeed, Castro waited and endured the jeers of the Mexican fans who were demanding a strikeout from their pitchers to secure the win. Before his at-bat, his teammates had done something typical of their game: taking advantage of the opportunities given to them by the opponent. The Cangrejeros (Crabbers) had runners on first and second base, thanks to a hit-by-pitch to Isán Díaz and a walk to Christian Vázquez. The situation led to pitcher Anthony Gose being replaced on the mound by Miguel Vázquez. The right-hander retired Andrew Velázquez with a ground ball that advanced the runners before Castro’s hit to left field on a full count gave Puerto Rico the victory.
“Games like this hurt. Especially in an event like this, which is very short,” Tomateros manager Lorenzo Bundy said. “We have to give credit to Puerto Rico’s pitching, which silenced our offense. Puerto Rico did what was necessary to win the game.”
The reality was that the Tomateros’ offense flowed smoothly at the start of the game against Cangrejeros starter Colin Wiles. Estevan Floral led off with a single to right field. After Wiles walked Allen Cordova, Rodolfo Amador hit a double to drive in the first run for the home team, also known as Mexico Verde. Joey Meneses followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 in the first inning.
The Tomateros continued their attack against Wiles in the second inning, scoring two more runs on three hits, including a double, to make it 4-0. With no outs and with a runner on first base, Wiles was relieved by left-hander Jordan Morales, who closed out the inning without further damage.
From that point on, Cangrejeros manager Omar López delivered a consistent message in the dugout.
“[Winning] was our mission,” he said. “We’re going to hit and go down fighting.”
The bullpen heard the message and did their part. Left-hander Brady Tedesco pitched four solid innings, while Derek West, Roel Ramírez and Gabriel Rodríguez followed suit in the later innings.
The Cangrejeros’ first hit came off the bat of Gabriel Cancel at the start of the fourth inning, and Yohandy Morales hit a two-run home run that cleared the right-field fence to make it 4-2.
Puerto Rico added another run in the seventh inning when Vázquez, who had doubled and advanced to third on a groundout, scored on a groundout by Castro, setting the stage for Castro’s ninth-inning heroics.
The win went to Rodríguez (1-0) for pitching a scoreless inning, in which he struck out one batter. The loss went to Gose (0-1) after Puerto Rico’s final two runs were charged to him in his one-third of an inning of work.
Puerto Rico was slated to play the Dominican Republic’s Leones of Escogido on Monday.