The shortstop for the Caguas Criollos, Yadiel Rivera, hero of his team’s triumph in the final of the Caribbean Baseball Series, said today that the key to victory was that Puerto Rico never gave up.
“We never took off, we knew we could win the championship and now this is something great for us and for Puerto Rico,” Rivera, a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, told Efe.
Rivera made a mistake in the eighth inning, but reacted in a matter of seconds and surprised running back Luis Juárez at third base, who would have given Mexico the title if he scored; In the 10th act, the player who turned 25 this month doubled and scored the championship run.
“In that tenth the idea was to get to the base, if we succeeded, anything could happen, I hit a straight outside and I was able to put it on the other side,” he said, referring to the key hit of the victory of the Criollos, 1 -0 on the Aguilas de Mexicali of Mexico.
Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo, who plays in the majors with the Boston Red Sox, said that ever since he lived in Cuba he dreamed of one day winning the Caribbean Series and now he achieved the dream.
“We never lost faith, we were always happy giving us strength and the result was seen, we never let our guard down, we talked to each other and when we had the first victory, everything changed,” he said.
Castillo was in the center of attention on February 3 when Puerto Rico faced Cuba and the player, originally from the Cuban province of Ciego de Ávila, did not appear in the lineup.
Although manager Luis Matos said it was a technical decision to rotate outfielders, it emerged that Castillo had asked not to play against his hometown. Today he did not refer to the fact, but he had words of affection to the Cuban team.
“I will always support Cuba, that is my country, I will return to Puerto Rico whenever they need me,” he said. EFE
Hero Yadiel Rivera says the key was that they never took off
