The Criollos de Caguas, Puerto Rican baseball champions, rallied from a five-run deficit to finally beat the Panamanians Federales de Chiriquí on Thursday 9-8. The victory leaves their record at 4-1 and ensures second place in the standings.
Panama got starter Jason Garcia up early and made five runs in the first inning with singles by David Rodriguez, Carlos Quiroz and Rodrigo Orozco.
However, the Puerto Ricans remained calm and discounted gradually until in the third inning they were able to manufacture a three-race rally to equalize the score.
A hit from Vimael Machin, a bases-loaded walk to Rey Fuentes and a fly ball from Jonathan Morales was enough to make a clean slate at Teodoro Mariscal.
The next inning, Puerto Rico went up 6-5 with another sacrifice fly, this time from Machin, but the Panamanians responded and tied the action immediately.
It seemed that the give and take would never end, but the Puerto Ricans put distance in the bottom of the fifth another cluster of three races.
Panama tried to react one last time in the ninth, but fell short by scoring just two runs. His record was 2-3 and he will have to wait for the outcome of the other commitments to know his fate.
Left-hander Giovanni Soto took the win after a near-perfect two-inning relay, while Severino Gonzalez took the backhand by allowing all three of Puerto Rico’s runs in the fifth.