but the vaqueros failed from day 1 at the caribbean series held in caracas, venezuela. bayamón's import pitching, solid and sharp in the puerto rico playoffs, opted not to join the team for the trip. as a result, none of bayamón's emergency starters in its first three games in caracas made it past the fifth inning. it was not until game 4 with the team 0–3 and all but mathematically eliminated from contention, that puerto rico won a game on a solid pitching effort. the team that baerga built pulled out an 8–4 victory over their rivals tigres del licey of the dominican republic, with omar olivares allowing just four hits and two runs over seven innings of work. but was too late for puerto rico, whose role in the tournament would be as a spoiler for the other three teams, ending with a 2–4 record while tying for third place with the local navegantes de magallanes, behind mexico's tomateros de culiacán (5–1) and the dominican's tigres del licey (3–3).