The Matanzas crocodiles defeated Artemisa today by knockout of 11×1 and thanks to Santiago de Cuba’s setback against Camagüey they recovered the top of the 61st National Baseball Series.
In their Victoria de Girón grounds, those led by Armando Ferrer displayed a solid offense of 14 hits, including a home run with the bases loaded by second baseman Aníbal Medina. The success went to the account of Dariel Góngora (2-0) and the setback to that of Manuel Murgado (0-2).
Meanwhile, the Toros de Camagüey defeated the Avispas de Santiago 6×4, supported by very good pitching work by the promising pitcher Juan Contreras, who took the win over the experienced Danny Betancourt, who lost his first game.
Madero at the ready stood out Yordanis Samón and Alexander Ayala with two homers each for the winners, while Yosday Silva also did it twice for Santiago.
The Tigres de Ciego de Ávila beat the Granma champions 8-5, backed by the fourth home run by catcher Alfredo Fadraga and good relief by Osvaldo Cárdenas (1-0), who took the victory.
Yosvani Ávalos, also in relief duty, scored his fifth point for a save and Kelvis Rodríguez (1-1) charged with the failure of the game in which Rubén Valdés also hit a homer for the winners.
On September 5 in the central province of Cienfuegos, the capital’s Industriales team beat the local team 14×10, with success for reliever Andy Vargas (2-0) and defeat for Marlon Muñoz (0-1) in the same role.
Pavel Quesada took the ball out of the park with the bases loaded for the Elephants and Sandy Menocal did it for the Lions of the capital.
In other results, Sancti Spíritus beat Holguín 11-5 and Villa Clara beat Isla de la Juventud with the same score, while Guantánamo beat Las Tunas 12-7 and Pinar del Río beat Mayabeque 11-7.
Erlys Casanova took the victory for the Vegueros and Yadián Martínez charged with the setback for the Hurricanes, while Yaser Julio González homered for the winners.
After these results, Matanzas leads the league with 10 wins and three losses, followed by Santiago (10-4), Ciego de Ávila (9-5), Mayabeque (8-5), Pinar del Río (8-6), Sancti Spíritus and Industriales (7-6) and Granma (7-7). This completes the list of eight best.
Behind them are Villa Clara (6-6), Isla de la Juventud and Artemisa (6-7), Las Tunas and Guantánamo (5-8), Cienfuegos and Camagüey (5-9), and Holguín (3-11).
