Havana, November 29 (ACN) -- Industriales' victory and Sancti Spíritus' defeat caused an embrace between both teams at the top of the II Cuban Elite Baseball League, which is going through its fifth particular subseries.
As locals at the Latinoamericano stadium, the Leones counted on the effective work of right-hander Reemberto Barreto who, involved in an excellent season, recovered from an uncertain start and threw 7.0 innings with five hits to beat Artemisa 3-1.
Barreto, very well defended in the field, thus achieved his fourth win without defeats in the tournament, to equal in that leadership with the left-handed pitcher Ariel Zerquera from El Espiritu. Second save for Juan Xavier Peñalver.
Raico Santos, who hit 4-3, including a solo home run, and Luis Vicente Mateo also hit 4-3, with a triple, were the top hitters for the capital blues, who broke a losing streak of three successive defeats.
The victory of the Leones was combined with the defeat of the Gallos espirituanos, 2-6 against Matanzas, at the Victoria Park in Girón.
For the Cocodrilos Yumurinos, who left 10 runners in circulation, the lumber palms went to former major leaguer Rusney Castillo, who went 4-3, all doubles and a foul ball to the plate. Eduardo Blanco also went 4-3 and hit a solo home run.
Second win for left-hander Yamichel Pérez and third game saved for fast right-hander Armando Dueñas.
In this game, catcher Nelson Batista, reinforcement of the Saurians from Holguin, set a Cuban record by surpassing 970 innings without committing a pass ball, a mark previously held by Roger Machado. Batista is taking advantage of the presence of Yumurinos' regular catcher, Andrys Perez, in the U-23 pre-World Cup in Nicaragua.
And at the Julio Antonio Mella stadium, in a game of five errors, the visiting team of Santiago de Cuba defeated Las Tunas 13-5.
Andrés de la Cruz, 5-3 with a pair of two-run homers and three runs. Robert Luis Delgado homered. Reliever Yoandris Montero had his first hit. The Tunero lumberjacks left 11 men on the pads.
After these results, there is a tie between Industriales and Sancti Spíritus (11-7), followed by Matanzas and Artemisa (9-9). Las Tunas is in fifth place (8-10) and Santiago de Cuba is in the basement (6-12).
