Venezuela one win away from Tokyo as they beat Puerto Rico behind strong bullpen

Venezuela clinched a come-from-behind victory against Puerto Rico with a magnificent performance by their bullpen and are one win away from advancing to the Super Round. Venezuela is now 3-1 in the standings with one game to go in Group A.

"This was truly a team effort. We came with a mission to play good baseball, stay united, and make decisions that benefit the whole team. The guys have mentally prepared for this, and our outstanding coaches and scouts provide us with critical information," said Venezuela manager Omar Flores. 

Puerto Rico loaded the bases with no outs in their first at bat, on a pair of walks and a hit by pitch, but only produced one run. Carlos Cortes hit a grounder up the middle which allowed Ezequiel Pagan to score from third. Then John Montes struck out and Javier Vaz was thrown out at home in a double-steal play. The Puerto Rican added one more in the second on a passed ball.

However, in their second at bat, Venezuela came from behind with a three-run rally to take the lead. They never looked back.

Ramon Flores and Jermaine Palacios walked to open the inning, and Carlos Perez singled to drive in his team's first run. The next two run came on an infield hit by Hernan Perez, who hit a soft grounder to the mound and beat the throw at first. A wild pitch gave Venezuela the go-ahead run.

Two innings later, Venezuelan catcher Carlos Perez sent an 86mph pitch into the left field bleacher to extend their lead to 4-2. 

In the seventh inning, Hernan Perez added one more insurance run with a no-doubter to left field to make it 5-2.

The Venezuelan bullpen was magnificent, pitching 7.2 scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts, four hits and four walks.

"They have great relievers. Not only that, López brought in about three left-handers, very effective. Most of our batters are left-handed, but Venezuela’s bullpen is highly respectable, a bullpen with a lot of experience," recognised Juan Gonzalez, Puerto Rico's manager.

Asked about the bullpen management, Lopez stressed the importance of the coaching staff. "It begins with work done a few days in advance by a couple of our scouts, Rafael Yañez and Francisco Cartaya, who gather as much data as possible. They watch the games, review them, and prepare a report for me," he explained. "Afterwards, I go over it, as do all my coaches in their respective areas. Then, a day before the game, we hold consistent meetings to decide how we’ll manage the bullpen based on how the other teams have previously set up their lineups. This allows us to anticipate the game, assessing which pitcher I'll use, and seeing if the opposing team relies on analytics or data to structure their lineup based on their roster.

"From there, I create my pitching plan, share it and discuss it with the pitching coaches, myself, Robinson Chirino. If I’m ever uncertain, they help clarify things, and we reach a decision. Finally, we pass that information along to the pitchers, preparing them in groups – right-handed relievers, left-handed relievers – and explaining for each hitter their strengths and weaknesses, combined with the pitchers’ abilities, to achieve the desired result."

Liarvis Breto, the first of five relievers for Venezuela, was the winning pitcher of the game. He tossed 1.2 inning allowing one hit and a walk, while striking out three. Lefty Oddanier Mosqueda took the mound in the seventh inning and pitched 2.2 frames with no hits or walks. He struck out six.

Asked about his performance, Mosqueda said: "It’s a job that starts with the first pitch, with everyone in the bullpen focused. Our pitcher didn’t have the chance to go far, but that didn’t lessen our desire to win this game. Thank God, I was given the opportunity, and thank God I was able to perform as I did."

With this result, Venezuela improved to 3-1 and is one win away from Tokyo. On the other hand, Puerto Rico dropped to 1-3, extinguishing any hope of advancing to the Super Round.