Photo: Calixto N. Llanes

Havana, July 24 (JIT) -- The Industriales Leones defeated the Avispas de Santiago de Cuba 7x2 on Sunday and travel to their home grounds with a two-game lead in the semifinal of the 62nd National Baseball Series.

The Azules quickly exploited the rival starter Wilber Reyna, who showed up without the dominance exhibited against Camagüey in the quarterfinals and left the game with a disadvantage that was never cut by his teammates.

In addition to four hits and a couple of tickets given up in an inning and a third, the defense of Santiago was once again lacking the necessary tightness in duels of this magnitude, with seven costly errors in two games.

Industriales' starter Reemberto Barreto (6.0 IP, 1CL, 5H, 6K and 2BB) had a successful outing and especially showed focus to solve the most complex situations he faced with strikeouts.

Frank Herrera and Juan Xavier Peñalver completed the final third of the game, which ensured the best possible result for a visiting team in the postseason.

As in the Saturday duel, former Major League Baseball player Yasmani Tomás took the lead on offense with a pair of hits and two towers in four trips to the plate. Between the two games, he totaled five hits in eight innings with two RBIs and three RBIs.

Alberto Calderón, promoted to the second shift, also stood out with three hits and scored twice.

For the Avispas, the best marks came from reliever Yosmel Garcés (6.0 IP, 1CL, 4H, 3K and 2BB), who did a very good job of containment, and fifth baseman Francisco Martínez, who had a perfect 3-3 day with a triple and a home run among his connections.

The match will resume next Wednesday at the Estadio Latinoamericano, where large crowds are expected.

This Monday, the teams of Las Tunas and Matanzas will play their third duel, in a match that is 2-0 in favor of the Leñadores. Left-handers Angel Sanchez and Denis Quesada have been announced to start.