Series of the Americas

Havana, Jan 28 (JIT) - Leñadores de Las Tunas lost this Monday by a 1x12 knockout in seven innings against the Colombian team Caimanes de Barranquilla, to record their third defeat in the First Baseball Series of the Americas in Nicaragua.

This was the second successive KO suffered by the team of mentor Abeicy Pantoja, who wore similar "attires" to those exhibited last Sunday against the Curacao Goats (2x15): terrible offense, pitching unable to control the game, and two defensive errors.

At the Soberania National Stadium, in Managua, the only score from Las Tunas came in the first inning, by Yunieski Larduet's inside-the-box jit, a ticket to Yoelkis Guibert, and a sacrifice fly by Rafael Viñales, against the Dominican left-hander Oddy Núñez (2.02 meters), who pitched a complete game with four singles, three strikeouts and two tickets.

The Caimanes' attack against four Cuban pitchers, including the defeated Danny Betancourt, extended to 15 hits with two homeruns by Dilson Herrera y Dario Borrero, and two triples. 

The Colombians scored a bunch of six runs in the fifth chapter, with a similar number of hits, including three of the four triples, one for each reliever: Geonel Gutiérrez, Frank Herrera, and Rodolfo Díaz.

With this poor performance, the Leñadores now have a record of one win and three losses. To avoid being out of medal contention, they must beat Club Daom of Argentina this Tuesday and hope that host Nicaragua beats Caimanes de Barranquilla, which has the same record (1-3).

In the remaining matches on Monday, the undefeated Curacao Goats (4-0) and the Nicaragua team (3-1) secured their tickets to the semifinals.

The Curaçao Goats defeated Club Daom (1-3) by a 12x2 KO and the Nicaraguan team defeated Águilas Metropolitanas of Panama (2-2) by a 12x5 KO.