The historic first game of the 2024 Serie del Caribe is in the books. The game was a thriller that ended in a 5-2 victory for Criollos de Caguas over the debuting Gigantes de Rivas, who represented the Nicaragua League. With this game in the books, the first Caribbean Series to ever be played in an MLB stadium is officially underway.
The game began slowly for Puerto Rico, as Nicaragua started the offense by checking a few future trivia questions. Dominican veteran Raudy Read got the offense going in the second inning by collecting Nicaragua’s first-ever hit in a Serie del Caribe. Nicaragua’s first extra-base hit was a double. Read would later score Nicaragua’s first-ever run in the Series, being driven by MLB veteran and World Series Champion Chelsor Cuthbert, who now stands for driving Nicaragua’s first run. Nicaragua also held Criollos, the maximum Puerto Rico Champions, at bay with a valiant pitching effort from Luis Ramirez, who went 4.1 innings, allowing only one earned run.
After Puerto Rico scored a run in the fifth inning to even up the score and chase Ramirez out of the game, Puerto Rico scored multiple tallies in the sixth and eighth innings on hits by Jack Lopez, Vimael Machin, Heliot Ramos, and Joneshwy Fargas. Nicaragua would not give up and mounted a severe ninth-inning comeback attempt as “si se puede” chants emanated from the large pro-Nicaragua crowd. But the attempt at a comeback would fall short, as Lincoln Henzman secured the last two outs on a double play to do away with the late Nicaraguan rally.
For Puerto Rico, Dwight Smith Jr. went 1-2 with a double, Heliot Ramos 1-2 with two runs and an RBI, and Brian Torres also had one hit in two opportunities and scored two runs. The best offensive production from Nicaragua came from Melvin Novoa, who had two hits in four at-bats. Nicaragua often threatened during the game, but they left ten men on base going 1-9 with runners in scoring position. Puerto Rico’s pitching combined to hold Nicaragua down to two runs and eight hits, producing ten strikeouts.
The official attendance for the game was 7,724 fans for the Thursday morning game. Puerto Rico will face Mexico tomorrow, and Nicaragua will go against maximum Dominican champion Tigres del Licey.
