Venezuela remains unbeaten.
VENEZUELA 6, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 5 (VENEZUELA HOME TEAM)
Dominican Republic: Leury Garcia (White Sox) was 3-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in one. Jonathan Villar (Houston) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run. Tony Pena, Jr. struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.
Venezuela: Niuman Romero (Oakland) was 1-for-4 with a home run and two runs. Alexi Amarista (San Diego) was 1-for-3 with two walks, scoring once and driving in one. Jean Toledo retired all five batters he faced, three by strikeout.
The game: All the runs were scored in the first two innings. Three singles and a sacrifice fly produced two in the top of the first for the Dominican Republic. Two errors and a two-run double by Oscar Salazar contributed to a four-run bottom of the first to put Venezuela up 4-2. Two walks, a Garcia double, and a two-run error gave the lead back to the Dominican Republic 5-4 in the top of the second. Romero homered and Balbino Fuenmayor (Kansas City) doubled in a run in the bottom of the second to make it 6-5 Venezuela. And that was it. The Dominican Republic got a man to third in the fourth and sixth and had a man on second in the fifth and eighth, but could not tie the score.
CUBA 3, PUERTO RICO 2 (CUBA HOME TEAM--10 INNINGS)
Puerto Rico: Neftali Soto (Cincinnati) was 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI. Rene Rivera (San Diego) was 2-for-3 with a double. Mario Santiago struck out six in five innings of relief, giving up two hits.
Cuba: Roel Santos was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Luis La O was 1-for-4 with a double and a run. Hector Mendoza pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and four walks with two strikeouts.
The game: Each team scored once in the first. William Saavedra singled in a run in the second to give Cuba a 2-1 lead. It held until the fifth, when Soto's RBI single tied it at two. Puerto Rico got the potential lead run to third in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, but could not score. In the tenth, Frank Morejon led off by reaching second on an error and scored on a Roel Santos single to end the game.
STANDINGS
Mexico, 2-0
Venezuela, 2-0
Dominican Republic, 1-1
Cuba, 1-2
Puerto Rico, 0-3
TODAY'S TILTS
Venezuela at Cuba
Mexico at Dominican Republic
All games are played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, PUerto Rico.