SANTO DOMINGO.– The Dominican Republic national team unleashed a 15-hit offense and relied on a brilliant performance from pitcher Esmil Rogers to defeat Curaçao 11-1 by knockout in five innings, during the baseball tournament of the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games Santo Domingo 2026.
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Right-hander Esmil Rogers (1-0) completely dominated the Curaçaoan offense by working all five innings of the game. He allowed one run, three hits, issued one walk, and struck out seven batters, in addition to retiring the last 13 opponents he faced in a row. The loss went to Arlison Rodríguez (0-1), who pitched one and one-third innings, in which he allowed two runs and four hits.
Curaçao took the lead with a run in the top of the first inning, but the Dominican response was immediate, producing a six-run rally in the bottom of that same inning to take control of the game.
Raimel Tapia opened the attack with a double and scored the first run after an RBI single. Then, Deivy Muñoz hit an RBI triple that brought Gilberto Celestino home, while a wild pitch allowed another run. Subsequently, Yairo Muñoz produced a run with a single and Alfredo Reyes executed a bunt that caused a throwing error by the pitcher, allowing two more runs to score to make the score 6-1.
The Dominican offense continued to punish the opposing pitching in the second inning. Ricardo Céspedes drove in Diego Hernández with a single to right field and Michael De León added another run with an RBI base hit to extend the lead to 8-1.
In the third inning, the Dominican Republic added two more runs and sealed the victory by knockout with an additional run in the fifth inning.
On the offensive, Yairo Muñoz stood out, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs; Deivy Muñoz, 3-for-4 with a triple, three runs scored, and one RBI; Ricardo Céspedes, 2-for-3 with two RBIs; Michael De León, 2-for-3 with one RBI; Diego Hernández, 1-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored; Alfredo Reyes, 1-for-3 with one RBI, and Raimel Tapia, 2-for-4 with a double and one run scored.
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For Curaçao, Tommy van de Sanden stood out, going 2-for-1 with an RBI, and Delon Llewellyn, going 2-for-1 with a run scored and a walk.
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