México vs. Dominican Republic: Long-awaited Mexican victory comes with style points

[Noah Berger]

Final score: MEX 9, DR 1

México's first Caribbean Series win was also the most lopsided game of the tournament thus far. 

Coming off a heartbreaking loss to Panamá involving a ninth-inning comeback on Saturday, the Naranjeros de Hermosillo looked to get their first win in the tournament against the 2-1 Tigres del Licey. With former Marlins prospect and 2015 draft pick Jeff Kinley on the mound and some hot bats in the lineup, they looked poised to snag that win and go into their day off happy. 

Due to the length of the previous game between Venezuela and Puerto Rico, the start of this game was moved back, causing many—myself included—to hit the road and try to get a head start on sleep with another tripleheader on deck for Monday. This will be a quick and dirty recap of a game that started at 9:01 p.m. and (just like the rest of the Caribbean Series) didn't have the luxury of the pitch clock. Blowout correspondent reporting for duty!

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

Kinley gave up a run in the first inning off a single, double, and a sac fly but bounced back to throw five scoreless innings after that. The Mexican offense came out with guns blazing in the top of the third and never looked back. They rallied for four runs in the third off two singles, a hit by pitch, a bases-clearing double, and another single, all with two outs. Agustin Murillo clobbered a home run in the sixth to make it 5-1. Taylor Williams would replace Kinley to begin the seventh inning.

México scored two runs in each of the final two innings to balloon the score to 9-1 and give them a fighting chance of actually making it to the tournament's semifinals if they can win out and earn a tiebreaker. 

Time of game: Too long (three hours, 16 minutes)
Attendance: 14,308

Notable performances:

• Jeff Kinley (MEX): 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 78/47 P/S.
• Aaron Altherr (MEX): 1-for-2, 2 R, 2B, 3 BBs, 3 RBIs
• Emilio Bonifacio (DR): 2-for-3
• Juan Carlos Gamboa (MEX): 2-for-2, 2 R

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