Zapopan, Jalisco.– The Cangrejeros de Santurce responded at the decisive moment and defeated 8-3 the Federales de Chiriquí, in the match that opened the last day of the qualifying round of the Caribbean Series Jalisco 2026, played at the Pan American Stadium, a result that secured their ticket to the semifinals of the tournament.
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After being offensively limited for five innings by right-hander Harold Araúz, those managed by Omar López arrived at the sixth inning down on the scoreboard 2-0, but in that inning they put together a rally of four runs that changed the course of the game and made the difference. The victory went to “Blane Abeyta (1-0)”, while the defeat fell to “Humberto Mejía (0-1)”. The Federales, obliged to win to keep their classification aspirations alive, took an early lead against starting pitcher Derek Rodríguez. In the first inning, José Ramos opened with a triple and scored on a run-scoring single by Johan Camargo, who produced again in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly that brought Austin Dennis to the plate. Araúz dominated the Puerto Rican offense until the sixth inning, retiring 13 consecutive batters, but with one out he allowed a single by Gabriel Cancel, which led to his exit from the game. Mejía came in to relieve with the mission of holding the lead, but failed to contain Santurce’s reaction. Yohandy Morales hit a single that moved Cancel to second, Nelson Velázquez drove in the first run, and Isán Díaz drove in the tying run. Then, Emmanuel Rivera received a walk and, after a strikeout, Christian Vázquez hit an unstoppable hit to right field to drive in two more runs and put the Cangrejeros ahead. Chiriquí scored in the seventh inning against Robert Gsellman, when Joshwan Wright scored driven by a single from José Ramos, after advancing on a wild pitch. However, the Puerto Rican champions sealed the duel in the eighth inning with a cluster of three runs, combining a double by Emmanuel Rivera, a squeeze play by Christian Vázquez, two stolen bases, a single by Gabriel Cancel, and a defensive error. The eighth run came in the ninth inning with a triple by Yohandy Morales and an RBI single by Isán Díaz. On offense, Yohandy Morales shined by going 4-3, with a triple, two runs scored and a walk; Rubén Castro contributed two hits and Christian Vázquez drove in three runs. For the Federales, Johan Camargo stood out with two hits and two RBIs. Rodríguez opened for Puerto Rico and worked 2.1 innings, allowing one run and five hits. The relief was handled by Andrew Baker (1.2, 4 K), Blane Abeyta, Roel Ramírez, Robert Gsellman, Gabriel Rodríguez, Derek West and Andrew Marrero.
