At the 67th Caribbean Series on Monday, the Cardenales de Lara (Venezuela) looked to be in danger of falling in an 0-3 hole in the four-game, round-robin elimination stage after Indios de Mayag¨¹ez (Puerto Rico) took a four-run lead in the bottom of the third inning.

However, from that point on, the Venezuelan squad managed by former big league catcher Henry Blanco exploded for nine unanswered runs, scoring in every inning the rest of the way to notch a 10-5 victory at Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico¡¯s Nido de las ?guilas Stadium. With the win, the Cardenales are now 1-2 in the tournament and are in the thick of the chase for a spot in Wednesday¡¯s semifinal knockout round. The Puerto Rican club, skippered by former MLB infielder Wil Cordero, is also 1-2, but would now lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with Venezuela.

The Cardenales¡¯ offense was led by Danry V¨¢squez, who homered and drove in two runs. Rangel Ravelo (3-for-4, two RBIs) and big league infielder Ildemaro Vargas (3-for-6, with an RBI and a run scored) also contributed to the club¡¯s 14-hit attack.

After Venezuela starter Adri¨¢n Almeida give up five runs (two earned) in 2 1/3 innings, the team¡¯s bullpen shut down Puerto Rico¡¯s offense in the last 6 2/3 frames with relievers Robinson Hern¨¢ndez, Edwin Escobar, Anthony Vizcaya, Alex Scherff, Brian McKenna, Liarvis Breto and Arnaldo Hern¨¢ndez all appearing. Vizcaya notched the win for the Cardenales with a scoreless sixth.

For Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz hit a three-run homer in the third inning off Almeida. Reliever Ricardo Velez took the loss, allowing two runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Puerto Rico will return to action Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET for the day¡¯s first game against Leones del Escogido (Dominican Republic), who won two of their first three games of the tournament. With a loss Tuesday -- the last day of the round-robin stage -- Cordero¡¯s club would fall to 1-3 and would likely need help to qualify for the semifinals.

Venezuela will wrap up its elimination stage schedule on Tuesday as well, in the night game against Japan Breeze (Japan).

Charros de Jalisco (Mexico) has already clinched a spot in the semifinals, while at 2-1 with an off-day Monday, the Dominican squad managed by Albert Pujols is almost assured of playing Wednesday in the knockout stage. The Mexican representative, skippered by Benji Gil, improved to 4-0 with a 7-2 victory Monday over Japan, which fell to 0-3 in the tournament.