Ponce, Caguas & Mayagüez pick up victories in LBPRC

Dalton Guthrie at bat for the Ponce Lions, who moved to within a half-game of first place in the LBPRC with their fifth-straight win on Wednesday night.

By THE STAR STAFF

The Ponce Lions, Caguas Criollos and Mayagüez Indians notched victories on Wednesday night in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC by its initials in Spanish).

A five-run rally in the eighth inning gave the Ponce Lions (Leones) a 10-7 victory over the Santurce Crabbers (Cangrejeros) at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Hato Rey.

With their fifth consecutive win, the Lions improved to 19-12 and moved to within half a game behind first-place Santurce (20-12).

Ponce scored four runs in the second inning with a display of timely hitting as defense and control issues surfaced for Santurce. Lions outfielder Jacob Berry reached base on an error by Crabbers starter Eduardo Rivera on a throw to first base. Rivera then walked Anthony Calarco, and Matt Batten sacrificed with a bunt to advance the runners. With runners on base, Sammy Hernández singled and Aldemar Burgos doubled to make the score 3-0. The fourth run came on a groundout by Matt Bottcher.

The Crabbers quickly responded in the bottom of the inning, tying the score against veteran pitcher Freddie Cabrera. After two outs, Jack López drove in Christian Vázquez and Juan Centeno to make it 4-2. Then, consecutive hits by Andrew Velázquez, Rubén Castro and Edwin Arroyo tied it up at 4-4.

In the fourth inning Santurce took the lead, 5-4, on an RBI single by Edwin Arroyo.They added two more runs in the fifth with Velázquez’s third hit and another by Castro to make it 7-4.

After two scoreless innings, the Lions rallied for five runs in the top of the eighth thanks to an error by Arroyo, a sacrifice fly by Berry, and a pair of hits by Batten and Chris Arroyo, making the score 9-7. Edwin Díaz doubled in Ponce’s 10th run in the ninth inning for what would be the final tally.

Left-hander Julio Torres improved his record to 4-0 after earning the win by working one inning in relief. Andrew Marrero recorded his 12th save of the season to remain the league leader in that category. The loss went to Andre Scrubb (0-1), who allowed four runs, three of them earned, in one-third of an inning.

Meanwhile, the Criollos routed the San Juan Senators (Senadores) 13-3 at Yldefonso Solá Morales Stadium in Caguas.

Caguas now has a .500 record at 16-16. The last-place Senators dropped to 9-22.

A solo home run to right field by Yariel González opened the scoring for the Senators with two outs in the first inning against Criollos’ starter José de León (1-3). That was the only offense they could muster against the right-hander, who earned the win after working five innings, during which he allowed two hits and struck out six.

The Criollos answered with eight runs in the bottom of the inning against pitchers Brandon Komar and Agnel Miranda. RBI singles came from Luis Vázquez, Onix Vega, recently activated Tomás Nido, and Bryan Torres. MJ Meléndez drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and Kristian Campbell added another with a double, giving Caguas an 8-1 lead.

The Criollos continued the assault in the next inning as an RBI groundout by Vázquez and a two-run homer by Noah Mayers extended the lead to 11-1.

The loss went to Komar (0-1), who allowed six runs in two-thirds of an inning.

At Isidoro “Cholo” García Stadium in Mayagüez, a grand slam by Isan Díaz gave the Indians a 7-6 walk-off victory over the Carolina Giants (Gigantes).

The Indians now have a 15-15 record, while the Giants fell to 15-17.

Veteran catcher Martín “Machete” Maldonado supplied the Indians’ first run with an RBI line drive to left field in the second inning.

Three scoreless innings later, the Giants took the lead in the top of the sixth inning when two singles, by Johnathan Rodríguez and Deniel Ortiz, combined with a wild pitch from pitcher Keylan Killgore to make the score 4-1. Mayagüez scored two runs in the seventh on groundouts by Eddie Rosario and Emmanuel Rivera to narrow the gap to 4-3, but Carolina extended the lead to 6-3 in the eighth on a single by Miguel Pabón.

The Indians loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with singles by Matthew Lugo and Rivera, and a walk to Anthony García, setting the table for Díaz’s game-winning hit.

Left-hander Matt Tenuta (1-0) earned the win, pitching one scoreless inning. Right-hander Osvaldo Berríos (2-1) took the loss, allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning.