Puerto Rican League: Games of December 21

Errors and wild pitches help decide games.

CAGUAS 3, PONCE 1 IN PONCE

Caguas:  Aaron Bates was 2-for-4 with a run.  Andy Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run.  Efrain Nieves (Toronto) pitched 4.2 innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks with one strikeout.

Ponce:  Jonathan Mota (Cubs) was 2-for-4 with a triple and a home run, his second.  Jordan Lennerton (Detroit) was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Logan Williamson pitched six innings, allowing two unearned runs on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts.

The game:  Mota homered in the third to give Ponce a 1-0 lead.  They held the lead until the sixth, when Bates circled the bases on a two-run single-and-error-and-error.  Ponce got the tying run to third with two out in the bottom of the sixth, but came no closer.  Caguas added an insurance run in the ninth.

SANTURCE 6, CAROLINA 4 IN SANTURCE

Carolina:  Anthony Garcia (St. Louis) was 2-for-3 with a walk and two doubles, scoring once.  Robinson Cancel had a two-run pinch-hit homer.  Willie Collazo struck out six in 6.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on six hits and no walks.

Santurce:  Luis Rivera was 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs.  Neftali Soto (Cincinnati) was 2-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Victor Mayo (Tampa Bay) pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts.

The game:  Santurce scored two runs on wild pitches and a third on an error, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning.  Soto and Jose Morales delivered RBI singles in the second to make it 5-0.  Carolina got on the board in the third on a two-run homer by Ruben Gotay, but Rivera homered in the sixth to put Santurce up 6-2.  It stayed there until the ninth, when Cancel hit a two-run homer with two out.  The tying run did not come up to bat.