On an afternoon when the Tigres del Licey needed it the most Raúl Valdés was masterful. The lefty from Mariel, Cuba tossed five innings of two-hit, no-run ball to help the Dominican squad blank Curaçao 2-0 and punch their ticket to the semifinals of the Serie del Caribe.
With his victory the southpaw entered immortality tying his countrymen Camilo Pascaul for the tournament’s all-time lead in wins with six and he was also one strikeout away from tying Luis Pizarro for the all-time lead in strikeouts with 62, when manager Gilbert Gómez removed him.
El zurdo cubano @RaulValdes56 nos habla sobre empatar a Camilo Pascaul para las más victorias en la @beisboldecaribe y el timonel Gilbert Gómez le explica @JMOREJON1963 la razón porque sacó el lanzador faltandole solamente un abanicó para empatar el récord del clásico caribeño.… pic.twitter.com/xMSzPTDdBJ
— Yusseff305 🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@yusseff305) February 7, 2024
When I asked Valdés how he felt about reaching the milestone and in a city like Miami where there is an abundance of his countrymen, he had this to say,”I am happy to reach this milestone and tie my countrymen and thank God I was able to help my team win.”
Manager Gilbert Gómez was asked by Jorge Morejón about knowing if Valdés was a strikeout shy of the record when removing from the game he replied,” Raúl Valdés will reach the milestone because it will not be the last time he pitches in this series and he will pitch for all long time to come, but to be sincere I had no idea he was that close to reaching the record when I removed him.”
In passing when asked by Gómez how much longer he is going to pitch he quipped, ” 10 more years.” In what turned out to be a historic day for Valdés was also a joyous one for the felines as they escaped disaster in a most win game.