Havana, July 27 (PL) - The teams of Santiago de Cuba and Matanzas took a breather in the semifinals of the 62nd National Baseball Series.

After losing twice in their Guillermon Moncada stadium, Eddy Cajigal's indomitable teams defeated Industriales 8x2 in their headquarters, a Latin American Stadium with the largest attendance of the season.

The Easterners hit 10 hits and committed two errors, while the capital team managed nine hits and failed defensively on one occasion.

The big man on offense for the visitors was right fielder Carlos Alberto Monier, who hit 5-2 with four RBIs. Jorge Luis Gutiérrez, Francisco Martínez and Erick Serrano also had a pair of hits. For the blue team, veteran Juan Carlos Torriente (4-4) was the standout hitter.   

The victory went to the experienced right-hander Dany Betancourt (5-5), who pitched six innings with seven hits, two runs (1 CL), one strikeout and four tickets, two of which were intentional.

Osvaldo Acuña closed the game with a quality performance, as in three innings he allowed no runs, two hits, three tickets and a pair of strikeouts. The loss was taken by Silvano Hechevarría, the first of the five pitchers used by blue mentor Guillermo Carmona.

Meanwhile, at the Victoria de Girón park, the Matanceros stayed alive in their semifinal match against the inspired team of Las Tunas. The question this Wednesday was win or win, as the series was 1-3 against them.

The game reached the ninth inning with a minimal advantage for the locals (1x0), but the eastern team tied the game and sent it to extra innings.

However, the team led by Armando Ferrer got the strength to win in the bottom of the tenth inning, when Eduardo Blanco hit a single, Andrys Pérez took him to second base with a sacrifice bunt and Aníbal Medina drove in the run with a cannonball to the right field.

Armando Dueñas, who worked from the eighth to the tenth chapters after a great start by right-hander Renner Rivero (7 ENT, 0C, 5H, 2K, 2BB), was the winner.

On the Tunero side it was not much different. Alejandro Meneses pitched six innings of two hits, one run, one strikeout and three tickets. Rodolfo Díaz tried to get the win, but ended up losing after 3.1 innings of work, in which he gave up four singles and one run, while striking out two.    

On Thursday and Friday, the game between Santiago and Industriales is scheduled to be played at the Latinoamericano. On Saturday, the match between Tuneros and Matanzas will resume at the Julio Antonio Mella stadium.