Havana, May 20 (ACN) -- The Vegueros of Pinar del Río achieved their 35th victory in the National Baseball Series and remained unbeaten in 10 individual duels.
With 23 games left to conclude the regular season, Pinar's qualification for the postseason is a matter of time.
On Sunday they beat the Villa Clara Leopardos with a final score of 8-7, with a cluster of six runs in the tenth, where consecutive singles by Lázaro Emilio Blanco, Tailor Sánchez, Rolando Martínez and Juan Carlos Arencibia were key.
For their part, the Aazanes de Granma defeated the Hurricanes de Mayabeque 10-9 and remained firm in second place in the championship.
Alfredo Despaigne drove in three runs and hit his 17th home run to reaffirm himself as the leader of the tournament and the duo of Raico Santos and Osvaldo Abreu scored three hits each.
The Lumberjacks of Las Tunas, tired of suffering seven consecutive defeats, mutinied at the Victoria de Girón in Matanzas and knocked out the Crocodiles of that province 11-1 to break their successful streak of seven games.
Within an attack of 19 hits, Yordanis Alarcón and Rafael Viñales stood out with three each, the latter with a double included.
The Tigres de Ciego de Ávila also took advantage of the day and achieved their fourth success against the Pirates of La Isla, this time with a final result of 6-5.
Fernando de La Paz and Ronaldo Castillo were the most productive within a lineup that hit a dozen hits, each going 4-2 with a couple of RBIs. Luis Alberto Marrero won the fight with a 7.1 inning effort where he only allowed one earned run.
With excellent work from last season's Rookie of the Year, Rafael Orlando Perdomo, and a 10-run rally in the sixth inning, the Industriales Lions also knocked out the Toros of Camagüey with a score of 12-1.
The young pitcher worked six innings with four strikeouts and just one walk granted to win his first game of the season.
Roque Tomás hit a triple that cleared the packed bases and Ariel Hechavarria hit his ninth home run.
The Avispas of Santiago de Cuba beat Sancti Spiritus 8-5, with victory for Kevin Rosales, who got five outs to take his third victory without setbacks. José Luis Gutiérrez hit a three-run homer.
For the people from Sancti Spiritus, Duniesky Barroso and Frederich Cepeda took the ball out of the park, the latter's number 366 in the National Series.
The Guantánamo Indians continued their good pace and knocked out the bottom-ranked Elefantes de Cienfuegos for the third consecutive day, this time with a score of 12-1.
Standing out were Leonelkis Escalante who hit three - including a double - and Biorgelvis Roque who hit a home run, both with two RBIs.
Finally, Holguín defeated Artemisa 4-1 with the victory of Ramiro Rodríguez and the ninth save of José Antonio Sánchez, who tied for the lead with José Ángel García from Artemisa.
Pinar remains at the top with 35-17, followed by Granma (32-20), Las Tunas (28-19) and Ciego (31-21).
