Bayamo, March 28 (PL) - Six teams will go out today in search of the success that will assure them to win the sub-series agreed to the best of five games in the Cuban baseball season.
Of the seven games that started last Tuesday, only the one between Pinar del Río and Santiago de Cuba is even at one win per side, while Las Tunas and Isla de la Juventud are still not playing due to problems in maritime transportation.
Among the teams that could get their third victory this Thursday are the leader Ciego de Avila and Camagüey, which has 10 consecutive victories.
Industriales, Matanzas, Artemisa and Guantánamo also won their two opening games and only need one more to dominate the bilateral match.
The Tigres of Avila extended Sancti Spiritus' consecutive defeats to six yesterday with an 11-2 score, while the Toros of Camagüey defeated Granma, the tournament's top hitter, 8-3, to show the best streak since the opening day of the current baseball tournament on the island.
The Leones beat Mayabeque in eight innings (12-1), Cocodrilos de Matanzas overcame Villa Clara (5-1) and Cienfuegos fell victim to Artemisa (18-11) in a game where the Cazadores turned the scoreboard with 13 runs in the eighth inning.
After a bad start, which led them to be swept by Camagüey in the last sub-series, the Indios Guantanameros have two wins over Holguín, the last one with a 6-1 score.
The Vegueros took a 7-5 revenge over the Eastern Wasps, inspired by one of the best offensive trios at present, made up of former Major Leaguers Alexei Ramirez, William Saavedra and Yaser Julio Gonzalez.
Among the most outstanding individual notes of Wednesday's game were the two home runs of Saavedra, who reached five in the campaign and 167 in his career in the Cuban championships.
The Matanzas' defense had a triple play against the Leopards and the Leones' starter, Andy Vargas, showed his successful recovery with six innings of work without allowing runs and eight strikeouts.
The Tigres Avileños lead the standings with a 12-2 record, followed by Pinar del Río, Camagüey and Industriales (10-4), Granma (8-6), Isla de la Juventud and Las Tunas (6-6), Matanza (7-7), Mayabeque and Villa Clara (6-8), Sancti Spíritus and Santiago de Cuba (5-9), Holguín and Guantánamo (4-10) and Cienfuegos (3-11).
