Holguin, April 15 (PL)-- Pinar del Rio needed ten innings to beat Holguin and remain as the lone leader of the Cuban baseball tournament.
The 5-4 victory was led by William Saavedra, who hit a pair of hits and drove in three runs and combined with Ciego de Avila's setback to leave the Vegueros at the top of the standings.
The Tigres avileños lost 4-7 to Artemisa in a game where the highlight was the fifth save by José Ángel García, the all-time leader with 303.
Leñadores de Las Tunas saw its possibility of completing the sweep in the weekly sub-series cut short, after a comeback by Mayabeque in the ninth inning when it scored two runs and sentenced the final 11-10.
The decisive runs were produced by Lázaro Ponce and Frank Alfonso, authors of home runs in the last chapter, although the best offensive notes were signed by Dennis Laza with seven towers and two home runs.
Laza has 10 home runs, the same number as Saavedra and they share second place in the home run ranking, with one less than Alfredo Despaigne.
For the reigning champions Rafael Viñales also hit a pair of home runs and Roberto Baldoquín, one. Meanwhile, the Villa Clara team defeated Industriales for the fourth consecutive day, this time by a score of 13-3.
The Leopards counted on good work by the pitching tandem of Osdany Rodríguez and Pedro Manuel Castillo, while Leonardo Montero and Yeniet Pérez each drove in three runs, the latter of the two with a home run on the day.
Indios del Guaso secured the sub-series against Matanzas by winning the fifth game 12-6 with the ninth home run of Over Cremet, and Camagüey won the double game against La Isla and reaffirmed its position in the classification of the baseball tournament.
International José Ramón Rodríguez walked the entire seven-inning first inning with two hits and six strikeouts to sign a 4-0 shutout, aided by Alexander Ayala's home run.
The Toros also won 6-4, inspired by a pair of two-run homers by Yordanis Samón, who retaken the all-time lead in doubles (464), two more than Frederich Cepeda.
The Gallos won the match against Granma with a 7-5 victory, and finally, Santiago de Cuba was better than Cienfuegos (7-1) to win the bilateral duel, with success for Osvaldo Acuña and offensive highlights for Yoelquis Guibert, with 5-3, double, home run and three runs batted in.
This Monday is transfer day and on Tuesday new five-game subseries begin in the regular calendar of the tournament, agreed to 75 games to define the eight qualifiers for the post-season.
Pinar del Río (19-8) is followed by Ciego de Avila (18-9), Las Tunas (14-8), Industriales (16-11), Granma and Camagüey (15-12), Artemisa (14-13), Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba and Villa Clara (13-14), Sancti Spíritus (12-15), La Isla (9-13), Holguín (11-16), Guantánamo and Mayabeque (10-17) and closes the group with Cienfuegos (9-18).
