Dominican Republic vs. Nicaragua: Emilio Bonifacio leads late-game comeback

[Kevin Barral]

Final score: DR 5, NCA 4

Nicaragua was on the verge of an upset win, but couldn't contain the Tigres del Licey offense and the ageless Bonifacio.

MIAMI, FL—Although this game had the expected outcome, there was a surprising amount of back and forth between Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic on Friday afternoon. Thanks to the eighth-inning heroics of Emilio Bonifacio, D.R. pulled off the 5-4 win, their first of the 2024 Caribbean Series.

Dominican Republic vs. Nicaragua box score and play-by-play

Nicaragua wasted no time getting on the board to take a 1-0 lead. Center fielder Jarius Richards had a base hit and then stole both second and third, but a bad throw at third gave Nicaragua run number one of the ballgame. However, the game would tie up at one apiece due to Leury Garcia grounding into a forceout that saw Dawel Lugo score. Lugo hit a double in his at-bat to get on base.

The bottom of the fourth inning saw Nicaragua extend their lead after Francisco Peguero and Raudy Read both had base hits. Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert drove in Peguero on an RBI single to make it a 2-1 lead, which was then followed up by a wild pitch to move up Read to third. Melvin Novoa reached base via a fielder's choice when Read made a bad read (hehe) and was tagged out at home. Despite that, Omar Mendoza was able to drive Cuthbert home and make it a 3-1 lead over the Dominican Republic.

That would be the final hitter that starter Brooks Hall would face. He ended the night going 3 ⅔ innings, giving up three runs off of six hits and striking out two while walking zero.

Just like we saw in Nicaragua's first game against Puerto Rico, their bullpen is shaky to say the least. In the top of the fifth inning, Nicaragua went with reliever Pedro Torrez who gave up a base hit to Robinson Cano and then Ramon Hernandez grounded out, but Nicaragua second baseman Emmanuel Garcia bobbled the ball, which allowed Bonifacio to score, as he was at third base and it moved Gustavo Nunez up to third. The Nicaragua lead was now just by a run at 3-2.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Nicaragua second baseman Emmanuel Rivera, who had bobbled the ball that allowed Bonifacio to score in the top of the inning, hit a 387-foot solo home run to give Nicaragua a two-run lead, 4-2.

In the top of the seventh inning, a defensive error on Nicaragua's end allowed Cano to score and make it a 4-3 game. Nicaragua was unable to respond in the bottom of the seventh.

To begin the top of the eighth, Webster Rivas was hit by a pitch (Sergio Alcantara entered as a pinch-runner), but Leury Garcia dropped a sac bunt to move Alcantara to second, setting up Emilio Bonifacio at the plate with one out and a man in scoring position.

In Bonifacio's four years as a Marlin, he slashed .271/.332/.345/.677 with seven home run and 84 RBIs. He had 20 triples with the Marlins and if he were with Miami in 2024, then it would've been 21. On a 1-0 count, reliever Euclides Leyer went with his changeup, which Bonifacio took advantage of and tied it up on an RBI triple.

The go-ahead run would come off of a Ramon Hernandez RBI single to make it 5-4. Nicaragua wasn't able to get anything else going and it would end the game.

Nicaragua falls to 0-2 in the Caribbean Series. The Dominican Republic earns win number one and manager Gilbert Gómez, at age 31, becomes the second-youngest manager to win a Caribbean Series game. This was also win No. 200 for the Dominican Republic in international competition.

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