Havana, June 1 (PL) - The Santiago de Cuba team will go out today against Matanzas to defend its leadership in the last day of the twelfth sub-series of the Cuban baseball championship.
The Avispas del Oriente divided honors against the Cocodrilos Matanzas yesterday, when bad weather conditions prevented the team from playing four games of the schedule.
More than 20 games have already been suspended due to the rain, a situation that led the organizers of the national series to adopt the decision to change the schedules on several dates.
A note from the National Baseball Commission circulated this Wednesday afternoon informs that during the rest of the competition, the final games of each sub-series and those scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will be played starting at 10:00 am.
In the doubleheader played in Santiago de Cuba on Wednesday, first pitcher Renner Rivero worked a complete game (7.0 INN, 2CL, 5H, 4K and 1BB) in the Matanzas' 4-2 victory and took away the undefeated record of veteran Alberto Bisset after six wins in the campaign.
In the next game, the Avispas hit back against the current national runners-up by 6-2, with tight relief by Jaime Pelegrín, who did not allow any runs or hits in four innings and signed his first success in a national series. The Matanzas pitchers not only allowed six hits, including a home run by Euclides Perez, but also showed terrible control in the second game when they gave away 11 bases on balls in six innings.
At the Latinoamericano stadium of the Cuban capital, Vegueros de Pinar del Río left Industriales' winning streak at four with a 4-3 victory led by the bat of William Saavedra (4-2, 2CI), who hit the 158th home run of his career.
Villa Clara once again surpassed the halfway point of the standings after defeating the Espirituano Gallos 7-1 at the Sandino Stadium in the central city of Santa Clara.
Young Raidel Alfonso (8.0 INN, 1CL, 2H) did not strike out or walk any espirituano, but remained dominant throughout, to the extent of working five perfect innings before catcher Carlos Chavez broke the spell with his first lifetime home run.
Ciego de Avila could not take advantage of their game against Guantanamo, occupying the last place in the standings, and lost by knockout 16-6, a game in which the Indians displayed power at bat with four complete-game hits, two of them to the account of Robert Luis Delgado.
The games between Holguín-Artemisa, Mayabeque-Las Tunas, Granma-Cienfuegos and Camagüey-La Isla could not be played due to bad weather in eastern Cuba.
