Photo: Boris Luis Cabrera
Havana, November 4 (ACN) - Agricultores has taken the measure of Portuarios, defeated it 6-4 to apply the second sweep and thus consolidate itself at the top of the First Elite League of Cuban Baseball, which materialized the fourth particular subseries.
With this success in their almost impregnable Mártires de Barbados stadium, the team of mentor Carlos Martí, which includes players from Granma and Las Tunas, signed their fifth consecutive smile so far in the tournament against the disciples of manager Michael González, from the Industriales and Mayabeque teams. They had already swept them in the first sub-series.
The Agricultores, who of the eight victories with which they lead the tournament, five have been against the rival, hit 11 hits. The fifth hitter Rafael Viñales, who went 4-2 with a home run and three runs.
Coincidentally, the three homers of the Manatí slugger in the young tournament have been against Portuarios pitchers. Thus, he tied for the lead in that department with Yordanis Samón (Ganaderos).
The victory went to reliever Kelbis Rodríguez, who in 3.2 innings allowed four hits, but solved the problems with three strikeouts and without giving a ticket. Pavel Hernández took the loss, his third of the season.
Meanwhile, at the José Antonio Huelga Park, the Ganaderos team defeated Cafetaleros 4-3 in extra innings. The Cafetaleros only scored one run in the beginning of the tenth in front of right-hander Yunieski Duardo, and that was costly under the Schiller Rule.
At the end of that episode, and after a surprise double steal, the third bat Yordanis Samón received an intentional ticket, and the scene was ready for the bullpen Alexander Ayala to connect the golden jit that propelled the two winning runs, against a delivery from the speedy Guantanamo player Yeudis Reyes.
Finally, at the Augusto César Sandino stadium, the host Centrales had a gem of a pitching performance in the first start of the tournament by right-hander Renner Rivero, who in 7.0 innings limited the opponent's offense to five hits to take the 7-1 victory over Tabacaleros.
With 1.2 unblemished innings, right-hander Hermes González earned his second save. Madero en ristre for the Centrales was the outstanding player, Yadil Mujica, who went 5-3 with three towers.
After these results, Agricultores (8-2) leads, followed by Ganaderos (5-3), Tabacaleros (5-5), Cafetaleros and Centrales share fourth and fifth places (4-5), while Portuarios (2-8) sinks into the cold basement.
Text Jorge Luis López
