Las Tunas, January 10 (PL) - Leñadores de Las Tunas will leave here today in search of a triumph that will tie the semifinal against Matanzas in the Cuban baseball winter league.

Yesterday's 8-5 victory renewed the hopes of the Tunas team, after losing the first two playoff games against a rival considered by most as the main candidate for the title of the tournament.

A home run by 29-year veteran Dánel Castro awakened the offense of the winning team of the last National Series, which finished the game with 16 hits, six more than those achieved between Saturday and Sunday.

Dánel had another hit in the game and was only two away from 2,500 hits in the island's baseball championships, a figure that consolidates his position as the historical leader.

At the end of the first third of the game, with the scoreboard showing a parity of three runs, the homeowners hit seven hits which, together with a ball, a ticket and an error by the defense, led to five runs.

Neither the starter and loser Yoel Mojena nor the first reliever Noelvis Entenza could contain the Tunera rebellion in that segment, the last one in which they stepped on the rubber.