Ganaderos to the top in the Elite League of Cuban Baseball

Havana, October 31 (JIT) -- The Ganaderos team beat Portuarios twice at the Cándido González stadium in Camagüey and ended the weekend on top of the 1st Elite League of Cuban Baseball.

If on Saturday the team led by Héctor Huelga came out on top with a 6x3 score, this Sunday they celebrated with a more comfortable score of 8x1.

The victory went to José Ramón Rodríguez, who pitched seven complete innings with four hits, one run, four strikeouts and two tickets. Relievers Luis Alberto Marrero and José Luis Brañas worked for zeroes in innings eight and nine.

Offensively, Yordanis Samón, 4-2 with a home run, two runs scored and one run batted in; and Leslie Anderson, 3-2 with another home run, two runs batted in and one run scored.

On the other side, starter Raymond Figueredo did not hold up beyond the second chapter, after tolerating four hits and allowing five runs, four of them clean. Although Ganaderos would give up three more to relievers José Ignacio Bermúdez and Mario Batista, the game's fate was sealed.

The other sub-series of the weekend concluded with a split of honors. At the Julio Antonio Mella stadium, in Las Tunas, Centrales hit back against Agricultores; and at the Calixto García stadium, Cafetaleros did the same against Tabacaleros, scoring the first knockout of the event.

Armando Ferrer's team, defeated 4x2 on Saturday, smiled today with the same scoreboard. The credit went to Dariel Góngora, author of six innings of six hits, one run and two strikeouts. The save went to Hermes David González.

Yadil Mujica (4-2), Yeniet Pérez (4-3, 1CI) and Julio Enrique Miranda (3-2) were outstanding for the winners. Yadil Mujica and Richel Lopez became the first players to be ejected from the tournament for protesting foul balls.  

Carlos Martí used five pitchers to try to win the game, but his offense did not respond and left-handed starter Leandro Martínez took the loss.

Yuniesky Larduet (4-3, a triple), Yordanys Alarcón (3-2, home run) and Alexquemer Sánchez (4-2) produced very well in the losing cause.

Finally, Cafetaleros gave up 11 hits to Tabacaleros' pitching to give them 13 runs, 12 of them clean. Santiago Torres (3-1, 3CI), Yordan Manduley (3-1, 2CI), Michel Gorguet (4-2, 1CI) and Franklin Aballe (4-2, 2CI). The victory went to Santiago veteran Alberto Bisset.

The Greens, led by Alexander Urquiola, hit 12 hits, but scored only three times. Eliseo Rojas (4-2), Dayán García (4-2) and Luis Felipe Rivera (3-2) did their offensive duties, but could not prevent the loss for Geonel Gutiérrez, the first of the six pitchers who paraded on the mound.

After the first three sub-series of the series, Ganaderos leads with a 4-1 balance, ahead of Agricultores (5-2), Tabacaleros (4-3), Cafetaleros (2-4), Centrales (2-4) and Portuarios (2-5).

The next subseries, from Tuesday to Thursday, will be between Centrales and Tabacaleros at the Augusto César Sandino Park in Villa Clara; Ganaderos versus Cafetaleros at the José Antonio Huelga Park in Sancti Spíritus; and Agricultores versus Portuarios at the Mártires de Barbados in Bayamo.