Photo: JIT

Havana, December 24 (RHC)-- The lone runner-up Centrales and its closest pursuer, Tabacaleros, won their respective games on Friday and the fight for the second to fourth places in the 1st Elite Cuban Baseball League, which is comfortably led by Agricultores, with 30 wins and 18 setbacks, continues.  

With stage at the Victoria de Girón stadium in Matanzas, and as hosts, the Centrales achieved their third success in a row against Agricultores, now with a 3-0 defeat, and remained alone in the second place, waiting for what happens this Saturday.

The locals scored their three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, in a game in which they accumulated six hits with no defensive errors, with a victory for starter Freddy Asiel Álvarez (4-3) and a save for Eriel Carrillo (1).

On the other hand, the visitors managed nine hits and committed one error on defense, with the loss for Ángel Sánchez (0-1).

In the other two challenges of the day, the Tabacaleros left Cafetaleros on the field after a two-run tie in the sixth inning that was broken in the bottom of the ninth inning, at Capitán San Luis de Pinar del Río.

According to the website www.beisbolcubano.cu, the victory went to Frank Luis Medina (2-3), while Alberto Bisset (2-8) finished with the setback, in a game in which both teams committed a defensive blunder.

Tabacaleros closed with six hits, while the visiting Cafetaleros finished with seven, one of which was a home run by Francisco Martínez, in Capitán San Luis de Pinar del Río.

The only one of the four qualified teams that lost at home was Portuarios, losing 0-2 to Ganaderos, which opened the scoreboard in the first inning and added another in the second, at the Nelson Fernández de Mayabeque stadium.

Both teams accumulated eight hits and committed two and one error on defense, respectively, with the win for Alex Guerra (3-1), save for José Luis Brañas (2) and setback for Pavel Hernández (3-5).

After these results, Agricultores remains unreachable in the standings with 30 wins and 18 losses, followed by Centrales (26-23), Tabacaleros and Portuarios (25-23), Ganaderos (20-27) and Cafetaleros (18-29).