Vegueros of Pinar del Rio

Pinar del Rio, April 10 (PL)-- The Vegueros of Pinar del Rio won for the fifth consecutive day and remained alone at the top of the Cuban National Baseball Series.

Led by Alexander Urquiola, the Vegueros defeated the Cachorros Holguineros 5-3 and took advantage of the defeat of the Tigres Avileños to remain alone at the top of the standings.

Rookie Randi Martínez walked a five-inning route where he accepted a couple of runs and achieved the first victory of his young sports career.

Jorge Yoan Rojas with a double and a home run towed a trio of runs and Juan Carlos Arencibia hit three hits to support the work of the starter and the relief duo that maintained the lead.

The Tigres de Ciego de Avila suffered their fifth loss in a row, this time by a 12-1 knockout against the Cazadores de Artemisa and saw the Industriales de La Habana catch up with them in the second place in the league.

In that challenge, José Antonio Jiménez (3-2), Lázaro Pérez (3-2) and Osbel Pacheco (4-3), the latter with four runs batted in, disappeared the ball.

Thanks to the great work of Andy Vargas, who recorded his fourth win of the tournament to equalize with the leaders, the Industriales of the capital got their fifth success in a row, this 1-0 at the expense of the Leopards of Villa Clara.

Vargas worked for two-thirds of the game, allowed only a pair of singles and fanned two opponents, while Frank Herrera got three outs and earned the save.

Oscar Valdés (4-2) drove in the deciding run.

In other games, Las Tunas climbed to fourth place by beating Mayabeque 15-6 with a home run by Denis Peña and Sancti Spiritus defeated Granma 8-4 despite the tenth home run by Alfredo Despaigne, who tied for the lead with William Saavedra from Pinar del Río.

Finally, Camagüey defeated Isla de la Juventud 6-5, Santiago de Cuba defeated Cienfuegos 10-4 and Guantánamo beat Matanzas 7-5.

Behind the new leader Pinar del Río (17-6), Ciego de Avila and Industriales (16-7), Las Tunas (11-7), Granma and Camagüey (13-10) and Artemisa (12-11) are in the first positions.