Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela lives up to the hype with blast from Yasiel Puig

MIAMI, FL—Thursday's most anticipated Caribbean Series game turned out to be exactly what we expected: a rollercoaster of emotions with two good pitchers on the mound for their respective teams. Even while missing some of the players that they hoped to bring to the tournament, Venezuela defeated the Dominican Republic, 3-1.

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

The first two innings of play saw a lot of action from both sides, but no run production.

That changed in the top of the third inning. Venezuela gained the momentum when the bottom part of the order got to work. Back-to-back singles by Ramon Flores first and then Leonardo Reginatto gave nine-hitter Adrian Adrianza the sac bunt opportunity which was successful. Leadoff hitter Alexi Amarista drove in Flores on an RBI single which just got out of the infield to give Venezuela a 1-0 lead.

The Tiburones would then strike again in the top of the sixth inning after Wilson Ramos got a base hit which was followed by a Luis Torrens walk. The Tigres ended up taking out Williams Jerez and bringing in Pedro Payano who allowed an RBI single to Ramon Flores who drove in Wilson Ramos. That would make it a 2-0 game.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Dominican Republic loaded the bases off of three straight singles, the second one coming from former Marlin Emilio Bonifacio, and with one out, Robinson Cano stepped up to the plate and on a 2-0 count, Tiago De Silva threw a sinker right down the middle that Cano hit, but wasn't enough to leave the ballpark. The sac fly to drive in Webster Rivas still got them on the scoreboard and made this a 2-1 ballgame.

The Dominican Republic had another chance in the bottom of the seventh as with two outs, Dawel Lugo smacked a double to make himself the tying run. Webster Rivas worked a walk and a wild pitch from Silvino Bracho moved Lugo to third, but Hector Rodriguez lined out to Ramon Flores for the third out of the inning.

Venezuela put the nail in the coffin in the top of the eighth inning when Yasiel Puig, who is playing in his first Caribbean Series, hit a 416-foot home run that left the bat at 107.6 miles per hour to extend the lead. It had the highest exit velocity and distance of the night. This was Puig's first home run of the Caribbean Series and likely the biggest moment of day one here from Miami.

Venezuela would end up taking this one as the Dominican Republic was limited to six hits. Venezuela starting pitcher Miguel Romero went 5 ⅓ innings, gave up one run off of three hits, didn't walk anybody and struck out three.

With that, Venezuela goes into their off day with a 1-0 record. The Dominican Republic will take on Nicaragua at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

Curacao vs. México notes

Sandwiched between this game and the Nicaragua/Puerto Rico Caribbean Series opener, the Curacao Suns powered their way to a win over México by the final score of 6-5.

Right-hander Cody Mincey was tagged for back-to-back home runs by Aaron Altherr and Julian Ornelas to lead off the second inning to give Mexico an early 2-0 lead. After those initial struggles, Mincey was able to give Curacao a total of 4 ⅓ innings of work, as he struck out one and just allowed one more hit after the two home runs.

The Suns responded right away, loading the bases in the top of the third and clearing them with a triple by veteran Sir Didi Gregorius. Curacao took a 3-2 lead and never looked back. Kevin Kelly came on in relief and pitched 4 ⅓ innings on his own to bring the game almost to a close.

Curacao went up 6-2 thanks to three solo home runs, but that shrunk to a 6-5 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Anthony Herrera came in for the save and got the job done.