Puerto Rico’s De Leon, bullpen ‘perfect’ in WBC mercy-rule win

Officially, Puerto Rico’s 10-0 victory over Israel in the World Baseball Classic on Monday night will not enter the record books as a perfect game, even though four pitchers combined to retire all 24 hitters they faced in the mercy-rule win.

Just don’t tell that to Puerto Rico’s players.

“It’s perfect for us,” said starter Jose De Leon, whose 5.2 brilliant innings spearheaded the best performance of the Classic from the two-time runners-up and sets up an epic matchup against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday in which the winner is expected to advance and the loser likely will bow out after pool play.

The Elias Sports Bureau, which renders official scoring decisions for Major League Baseball, said WBC games are being held to the same scoring standards as MLB games, in which “official” perfect games and no-hitters must last at least nine innings. Puerto Rico capped its win Monday with an Enrique Hernández walkoff single in the bottom of the eighth inning, sending its players catapulting onto the field in celebration.