Crabbers regain sole possession of first place in LBPRC
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By THE STAR STAFF
The Santurce Crabbers, San Juan Senators and Mayagüez Indians all secured victories on Sunday in Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC by its initials in Spanish) play.
Right-hander Daryl Thompson pitched eight complete innings to lead the Crabbers (Cangrejeros) to a 6-3 victory over the Carolina Giants (Gigantes) at Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium in Carolina.
The win, combined with a Ponce Lions loss, put the Crabbers back in sole possession of first place with a 22-13 record. The Giants fell to 17-18 and were tied with the Caguas Criollos for fourth place.
The veteran Thompson allowed one run and five hits in his start, improving his record to 2-2 this season. He also struck out six batters.
The only run Thompson allowed came off the bat of Giants leadoff hitter Gabriel Cancel, who hit a home run to left field in the first inning to give his team an early 1-0 lead.
The Crabbers employed small ball tactics to avoid falling out of the top perch in the standings. Shortstop Andrew Velázquez led off the Santurce third with a double, and Johneshwy Fargas sacrificed with a bunt to put the tying run 90 feet from home plate. Then Jeremy Arocho laid down another perfect bunt for a base hit that sent Velázquez racing home to tie the score at 1-1.
In the top of the fourth inning, the first two Santurce batters, Yohandy Morales and Adrián del Castillo, led off with singles. Giants starter Jonathan Bermúdez was relieved by Eddy Reynoso, and Jack López hit a sacrifice fly to give the Crabbers the lead, 2-1.
A single by Arocho, with del Castillo and Velázquez on the bases, extended the Crabbers’ lead to 4-1 in the eighth inning. Del Castillo and López came through again in the ninth, driving in runs with singles to make it 6-1.
Carolina rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI grounder by Deniel Ortiz and a sacrifice fly by Josh Hatcher to make it 6-3.
Left-hander Jonathan Bermúdez (1-3) suffered the loss, allowing two runs in three innings.
Meanwhile, the Senators (Senadores) defended their home field and earned a 6-2 victory over the Lions (Leones) at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Hato Rey.
With the win, last-place San Juan notched its 10th victory of the season against 24 losses. Ponce fell back to second place in the standings with a 21-14 record.
With the score tied at one apiece, the Senators scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Víctor Torres and an RBI single by D’Shawn Knowles to go up 3-1.
Torres drove in another run in the sixth for a 4-1 Senators lead, and the home team scored two more runs in the seventh for a 6-1 lead en route to the win.
Right-hander Iván Houellemont (3-1) earned the win in a relief appearance of two and two-thirds innings, in which he allowed one hit and recorded one strikeout. Right-hander Ryan Velázquez earned his first save of the year. Bryant Salgado (3-2) took the loss for Ponce, allowing three runs in three and two-thirds innings.
In Mayagüez, a walk-off sacrifice fly by Darell Hernáiz lifted the Indians (Indios) over the Criollos 6-5 at Isidoro “Cholo” García Stadium.
It was the third time in a week that Mayagüez, in third place with a 17-17 record, had won in walk-off fashion. Caguas fell to 17-18.
The win went to Indians reliever Carlos Francisco (2-0) after one inning of work, while Caguas reliever Jovani Morán (0-1) took the loss after allowing the winning run.