Photo Abel Rojas Barallobre

Havana, Jul 27 (RHC) Leñadores de Las Tunas put the grand finale of the 63rd National Baseball Series on the line this Friday, after beating the Vegueros de Pinar del Río for the third time and coming just one win away from lifting their third national champions trophy, reediting the crown of the last version.

The Tuneros won this time at the Julio Antonio Mella Stadium with a 5-2 score. The win went to starter Alejandro Meneses, the setback to veteran Bladimir Baños, while Alberto Pablo Civil earned the save.

The best at bat was Leñadores' shortstop Roberto Baldoquín who went 5-4, with a teammate brought to the plate. William Saavedra hit a home run for the Vegueros, to equal the record in post-seasons in this department, with a total of 27, matching his fellow countryman Omar Linares.

The fourth game of the final will be played today, if the Tuneros win, they will be champions, if the Pinar del Río team wins, they will force a fifth game and start the road in search of a historic comeback.

Just to give you an idea, only once in the play-offs of Cuban baseball has a 0-3 comeback been achieved and that was in the quarterfinals of this campaign, when the Industriales Leones won four in a row against the Avispas santiagueras.

In finals, such a comeback has never been achieved, and it is precisely the Vegueros who have been the closest to achieve it, when they equaled a final against the Tigres de Ciego de Avila, when they were in a similar situation to the current one. At that time, they would finally end up conceding in the seventh and definitive challenge.

This Saturday, Eliander Bravo for the Tuneros and Mario Valle for the Pinar del Río are scheduled to pitch.