Mayabeque, Cuba: Mayabeque began to dissipate and fell into a losing streak after being swept by the Sancti Spiritus Roosters, but closed the first half of the campaign in first place, now shared precisely with that team, Granma Newspaper publishes.
Meanwhile, a productive ninth inning took Industriales out of falling for the fifth consecutive time, in a day of beautiful duel between Villa Clara and Camagüey, and in which Matanzas lost again.
Those from Yayabo ratified their strength by batting 12 hits on the Hurricanes’ pitching, with Frederich Cepeda batting 3-2, with a two base hit and a home run included to drive and record as many, accompanied by Moisés Esquerrés (4-3 , a run scored, a double and four RBIs. From the box José E. Santos fulfilled again, in seven and a third, accepting three clean, with five strikeouts and a walk, in addition to tolerating eight indisputable.
Rafael Fonseca, from Mayabeque, with three, and Yasniel González (2), brought to the plate all they could do to the opponent’s box. Meanwhile, of the ten pitchers of the now co-leaders, eight allowed at least one hit.
The Lions of the capital were losing 4-3 with one out remaining to declare their fifth setback in a row, but Donnie Boza in his only at-bat found two men in circulation to bat a hit, with which he entered one, and the second, on that same hit, for an error.
The entrance was enough for them for one more run due to Alberto Calderón’s double. Andy Vargas, author of a long relief of five innings, in which he gave the same number of bases, but only got three hits and struck out a trio of Alazanes, took care that the scoreboard did not move any more.
José Ramón Rodríguez had a spectacular morning, demonstrating the good work done by Professor José R. Cortina with this pitcher, and drawing attention to his full recovery.
The lanky pitcher worked the nine innings and left the Azucareross’ offensive balance in three hits for an important victory for the Bulls. In addition, he struck out six and gave away a walk. His rival, Dairon Daniel Casanova, was immense, because in six completes he accepted only one hit, with two strikeouts and a walk in front of the 21 batters who stood at home plate, or that is the same, only two reached the pads.
It was Elier Carrilo who charged with the setback. That of the seventh inning was enough before Rodríguez. In that inning, a double by Alexander Ayala, an intentional ball to Leslie Anderson and a hit by Asniel Fonseca, allowed Luis Gómez to drive the decisive ball with a ground ball by second base.
By the sixth inning, it looked like the Crocodiles were headed for victory, depending on the talented Renner Rivero on the pitching board. With the score 3-1 in their favor, in that act the Tigers unleashed all their fury, hitting five of the 11 hits they gave in the challenge and receiving the same number of walks, plus one intentional. Result: ten races that signed the new failure of the Yumuri´s team, which now closes the classification zone.
The Leñadores did something similar to the Cienfuegos, who were winning 5-2 until the seventh, when the prickly pear axes began to cut with both hands. Coincidentally they also linked five hits in that scene, three of them from more than one cushion, a double and the home runs of Danel Castro, with the bases loaded, and Yordanis Alarcón. The Elephants pitchers lost the rubber by giving three walks and two hits.
Also in the seventh act, Pinar del Río decided over Santiago, preventing them from climbing to the top. The Vegueros had been losing 4-5 up to that point, but two consecutive homers by Yaser Julio González and William Saavedra, plus the lack of control of the Avispas pitchers, gave the westernmost team the opportunity to score three on the board.
The Hunters of Artemisa lost for the second consecutive day against the Indios de Guantánamo and the Cubs from Holguín defeated the Piratas pineros again.
This weekend is All-Star Games time, a welcome break to enter the second half of the schedule that looks set to be electrifying, as there are 13 teams out of 16 pretending to be at the postseason party.