Dominican Republic Shuts Out Mexico For First Olympics Victory

Image credit: Charlie Valerio (Getty Images)

Angel Sanchez and four relievers combined on a four-hit shutout, and the Dominican Republic beat Mexico, 1-0, on Friday in the Tokyo Olympics.

Sanchez, a former Pirates righthander, combined with Ramon Rosso, Dario Alvarez, Jumbo Diaz and Luis Castillo combined to limit Mexico to just four singles, one of which was a bunt single.

Melky Cabrera’s two-out RBI single in the fifth inning scored Charlie Valerio for the game’s only run.

Mexico had a chance to tie it in the sixth when Joey Meneses singled to left field with Isaac Rodriguez on second base, but Jose Bautista, the former Blue Jays star, threw out Rodriguez at the plate to preserve the Dominican lead. It was second time a Dominican left fielder threw out the runner at the plate with a one-run lead in as many games. Johan Mieses threw out Japan’s Tetsuto Yamada in the eighth inning of the Dominican Republic’s opener on Wednesday.

Mexico again had another chance to tie it with a runner on third and one out in the eighth, but Diaz got a pair of flyouts to escape the jam and keep the score intact.

Julio Rodriguez went 3-for-4 for the Dominican Republic and survived a scary collision with second baseman Gustavo Nuñez on a fly ball to shallow right field in the third inning. Rodriguez remained in the game, but Nuñez was removed the following half-inning.

Sanchez (1-0) pitched five scoreless innings to earn the win and Castillo recorded his first save. Teddy Stankiewicz (0-1) took the loss for Mexico.

Adrian Gonzalez went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk to lead Mexico’s offense.

The Dominican Republic finished pool play 1-1 and now will wait to find out its opponent in the knockout round. Mexico is 0-1 and finishes pool play against Japan on Saturday.