Criollos win for first time, Santurce suffers first loss in LBPRC

The Caguas Criollos celebrate their first victory of the season, 2-1 over the Mayagüez Indians at home.

By THE STAR STAFF

The Carolina Giants, Caguas Criollos and Ponce Lions all notched victories on Tuesday night in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC).

Two runs in the 10th inning propelled the Giants (Gigantes) to a 6-5 victory, handing the Santurce Crabbers (Cangrejeros) their first loss of the season.

Santurce now has a 6-1 record, while Carolina improved to 5-2.

With the score tied 4-4 at the end of the ninth inning, the tie-breaker rule was activated, placing a runner on second base with no outs for either team at the start of each extra inning. After one out in the 10th, Santurce right-hander Andrew Baker walked Abimelec Ortiz, and Deniel Ortiz followed with a single to load the bases at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Hato Rey.

Then came Ezequiel Pagán’s sacrifice fly that broke the tie, and Jan Hernández’s double that gave Carolina the decisive lead, allowing them to secure the win despite Santurce adding another run in the bottom of the 10th.

The win went to Osvaldo Berríos (1-0) after he pitched a scoreless inning in relief, while the loss went to Baker (0-1) after allowing the two runs. Ren Mukinoki of Japan earned the save.

Meanwhile, the Criollos earned their first victory of the season, defeating the Mayagüez Indians 2-1 at Yldefonso Solá Morales Stadium in Caguas.

The Criollos now stand at 1-6, while the Indios’ record fell to 3-4.

Elijah Dunham gave the Criollos the first run of the game when he hit his second home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning. The Indians (Indios) tied the score in the top of the third with an RBI single to center field by Emmanuel Rivera.

An infield hit by Noah Myers drove in Caguas’ second run to make it 2-1 in the fourth inning.

Right-hander Luke Taggart (1-0) earned the win after pitching a scoreless inning in relief, striking out two. Right-hander Josimar Cousin (0-2) took the loss, allowing one run in three innings. Cousin struck out five. José Espada recorded his first save of the season.

At Francisco “Paquito” Montaner Stadium in Ponce, with Kazuto Taguchi on the mound, the Lions (Leones) returned to winning form by blanking the San Juan Senators 3-0.

The southpaw import earned his second win of the season in an outing where he allowed only four hits, struck out five batters, and walked two in five innings.

The Lions fiercely defended their home turf starting in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Shawn Knowles opened the scoring with a single in the bottom of the inning and advanced to third on a single by Jesmuel Valentín. He then stole home to make it 1-0. Three batters later, Dalton Guthrie hit a two-run double to extend the lead to 3-0.

Senators (Senadores) left-hander Brady Tedesco took the loss, allowing all three runs, two of them earned, in his five-inning start. Eric Torres Jr. earned the save.