The Winter League Newsletter is back with a bang. Starting this year, the title of the biweekly newspaper will be renamed the Caribbean Baseball League Biweekly Newsletter, and all fans are invited to show their support.
Following the opening of the Mexican Pacific League on Thursday, the long-lost Dominican League regular season officially kicked off. The first day of the schedule was very exciting, taking the lead in the Tiger-Lion City Battle at 5:00, and the major league playoff Astros. The battle with the Mariners is a sign of goodbye, both of which are long playoffs. The Astros won the 18th inning with a home run by Jeremy Pena, and the Dominican Tigers started the 14th inning with a hit from captain Emilio Bonifacio, scoring 8 points in a single inning to win. The bottom-placed Bulls vowed to make a comeback, beating the Orient Stars 5-2 at home in the opening game. The defending giants kicked the iron plate in the opening game and finally lost by two points.
Tiger 10:2 Lion
The league’s first game was held at the Quisequeya Stadium in the capital. The Tigers and Lions, who shared their home court, fought against each other. The Tigers launched Steve Moyers to start, and the Lions were handed over to Ivan Nova. In the 2nd inning, the Tigers immediately broke through Nova’s pitch. After Aristides Aquino got a walk, Dawel Lugo’s hit came to the first and second base, and Trenton Brooks got a walk again to form a full base. Elly De La Cruz’s center field double hit back two runners, and the Tigers got the lead. The Lions also came to first and second base in the next half inning, but Moyers threw a key strikeout to defuse the crisis and settled down safely.
The Lions fought back in the bottom half of the fourth inning, with a homer from Peter O’Brien to tie the game with a triple from Eddys Leonard and a midfield hit from Engel Beltre in the fifth inning. At this time, the coaching staff replaced Luis Frias’ relay. He struck out Starlin Castro and O’Brien in a row to resolve most of the crisis. The Tigers only allowed the opponent to score one point in this half inning, and then began this long playoff road. There is no shortage of some offensives between the two teams, especially the Tigers. The hits from Jacob Nottingham and De La Cruz went to first and second base in seven innings, but Emilio Bonifacio hit a fly ball from center field to end the offense.
In the 10th inning, the two teams interacted with each other. In the first half of the inning, the Tigers relied on four dead balls to walk to full bases, but Triston Casas hit a grounder for second base and left the full bases. Rodgers ran into trouble in the second half and O’Brien’s hit came to the point after Engel Beltre walked. Fortunately, Rogers made a double kill and the two armies continued to fight fiercely. It was the Lions’ turn in the next 11 innings, and Engel Beltre’s grounder missed again.
The deadlocked game didn’t come to light until the 14th inning, when Elly De La Cruz hit a one-out and stole her footsteps to second base. The Tigers were instantly connected to the second line of Ren and Du, and the attack broke out completely. Captain Bonifacio’s left field hit hit the runners on the base, and the Tigers took the lead again after the second inning. The Tigers, out of control, took advantage of the Lions pitcher’s unstable ball control and fielding mistakes, and scored 8 points in one breath.
The Lions’ relays Franklin Parra and Cristopher Ogando could hardly hold back the opponent’s lineup. The most terrible thing was Jorge Bonifacio’s shortstop groundball. It was about to form a double-kill defense. Shortstop Luis de los Santos made a pass error and gave it away for nothing. opponent score. With De La Cruz’s final clearing triple, the Lions were ripped apart. In the end, the Tigers broke out in this game. They played 12 people in a single game and won the opening game 10:2.
Oriental Stars 2:5 Bulls
The match between the Oriental Stars and the Bulls kicked off at 7:00. The Oriental Stars launched Yennsy Diaz as the lead pitcher, and the Landlord Bulls were led by Firth. Firth was shelled by Junior Lake in the first inning, and Lake hit a deep home run in the left field from the missed red center ball, and the Oriental Stars opened the scoring. Yennsy Diaz maintained a good pressing force in the first 4 innings, without any hits by the opponent, threw 2 strikeouts and 1 walk and exited without a score. Fels dropped 1 point in 3 innings, without any strikeouts or walks, and his performance was quite satisfactory.
In the fifth inning, the Bulls’ Brian Navarreto responded with a shot to tie the game. In the sixth inning, Aaron Leasher was shaky with the ball and was hit by the Bulls batter. Danny Santana hit a triple in left field and both runners on the base scored, giving the Bulls a lead. In the 7th inning, the Eastern Stars changed pitchers and was relayed by Gregory Santos. Unexpectedly, the Bulls hit all three hitters, and instantly reached the full base with no outs. Cristian Adames then went to base on a turnover, and Steven Moya on third base ran back for the fourth.
The Eastern Stars responded in 8 innings, hitting a streak against Jenrry Mejia, then Marco Luciano’s cross-hit for the team’s 2nd run, but Michael Martinez’s front-pitcher was caught on first base Before the runner could get back to the base, he was struck and killed at the base, and more than half of the Orient Star’s offensive was disintegrated. In the next half inning, the Bulls had another run at the end of the inning, Navarreto’s center field hit added insurance points, and a strong right field hit and a walk from Steven Moya went to first and second base. Patron Saint Tim Peterson made a perfect three-up and three-down in 9 innings, and the Bulls finally defeated their opponents 5:2 to win their first victory of the season. Venus’ son played as a left fielder in eight innings and didn’t get a chance to strike.
Eagles 3:1 Giants
The defending Giants started the first game with Richelson Pena, and the Eagles launched veteran Yunesky Maya. The performance of both of them was very good. Maya pitched 0 points in 5 innings and 3 strikeouts. He was also among the 6 starting pitchers in the opening game, the only one who pitched 5 innings. Pena’s pitching was just as impressive, dropping just 1 point, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Pena was a little shaky at the start, first walking Cade Gotta and Tyler Nevin, milk boy Melky Cabrera hit right field, the Hawks scored the first score.
The Giants were dominated by Maya’s pitching in the first half, with only a walk from Moises Sierra and a hit from Juan Francisco. However, the Giants found an opportunity after the Eagles put out Dario Alvarez’s relay in the 6th inning. Fast-legged Tito Polo’s triple went straight to the town, and Carlos Peguero’s hit tied the game. But in the seventh inning, the Eagles’ offensive resumed. Melky Cabrera and Orlando Calixte hit the base one after another, followed by a spy-to-spy switch. Originally Luis Valenzuela was going to play Julio E. Rodriguez, the Giants immediately replaced left pitcher Derrick Loop, and the Eagles replaced Andretty Cordero at this time.
Cordero lived up to expectations. In the face of Loop’s missed pitch, he rammed a second base in the middle field and reached the warning zone. Both runners on base came back to score, which became the biggest key to the Eagles’ victory in this game. Although the Giants attempted a counterattack in the bottom half of the ninth inning, Liover Peguero made it to second base with a fielder selection and stolen base after Francsico’s hit. But Richard Rodriguez finally let Carlos Paulino hit a fly ball out of right field and successfully closed the game. The Eagles successfully challenged the Giants away and defeated the defending champions by two points.
