Indians leave the Senators prone and lead 2-0 in the Final at LBPRC

Error in the bottom of the ninth inning allows Mayagüez to score, to beat San Juan for the second time in the Final Series of the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League

MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico — A mistake of the gardener Kenen Irizarry allowed to Eddie Rosario score in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Mayagüez Indians defeated 2-1 to Senators of San Juan to take 2-0 lead in the Final Series of the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League.

Irizarry, who had tied the game with a home run in the top of the ninth inning, misfielded a hit by David MacKinnon so that Rosario had to take off from first base, after opening the inning with another hit.

The game was a pitching duel between first basemen Lewis Thorpe, for the Senators, and Eduardo Rivera, for the Indians. Rivera did not allow a run and allowed only three hits with seven strikeouts in five innings. Thorpe gave up one run, allowed five hits and had three hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Rivera had offensive support when Thorpe’s rhythm on the mound was interrupted by a huge solo home run by Martín “Machete” Maldonado to left field, which made the challenge 1-0 in favor of the Indians in the bottom of the fifth entrance.

After the Indians took the lead, the relief staff returned to do the job led by Joismar Cousin and Carlos Francisco, who also took the mound in the first challenge of the championship series.

The Senators put a runner in scoring position off reliever Carlos Francisco with a single by Jadiel Sánchez and a walk to Jan Hernández in the seventh inning. Francisco was relieved by Jake McSteen after getting the second out and the right-hander managed to dominate Vimael Machín with a hit through the infield to end the threat.

After this, Jorge López closed the eighth inning at zero. But, Justin Yeager couldn’t do the same as Irizarry hit a home run to deep right field to tie the game in the ninth inning.

The victory belonged to Yeager, who put his record at 2-0 this postseason. On the other hand, Ralph Garza Jr. suffered the setback by allowing the winning run and allowing a hit in an inning worked.

The Final Series continues Monday with Game 3, when the Indians visit the Senators at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The series is to win five of nine possible games.