Artemisa and Mayabeque will try to maintain embrace in Cuban baseball

Havana, May 24 (PL) - Artemisa and Mayabeque will try this Wednesday to maintain the embrace at the top of the Cuban baseball championship, when they face Pinar del Río and Isla de la Juventud, respectively, in the qualifying phase.

On the last day, the Cazadores de Artemisa and the Huracanes de Mayabeque climbed to the top by taking advantage of the setback of the Avispas de Santiago de Cuba against the current champions, the Alazanes de Granma by 2-7.

The Avispas defeated the Vegueros de Pinar 6-2 and the Mayabeque Avispas suspended their game against the Piratas de la Isla de la Juventud.

The Cazadores de Artemisa gave up five hits, two doubles and an equal number of home runs to support pitchers Miguel Lahera and Israel Sanchez.

For the winners, left fielder Carlos de la Tejeda hit 4-2 with a run, designated player Ronmy Proenza 4-1 with a home run and three runs batted in, and shortstop Dayán García 5-1 with a home run and two runs batted in.

Lahera achieved his fourth success of the tournament with the same number of defeats, working seven innings and allowing two runs.

The Cazadores' starter was supported by Israel Sánchez, who only allowed one single in two innings.

The defending champions of Granma took advantage of five errors by Santiago de Cuba and beat them 7-2, with the first hit by César García (1-0) and a home run by starter Guillermo Avilés. The bullpen's Yulián Milán hit 5-3 for Granma and towed two runs.

The Cazadores and Huracanes now have 29 wins and 20 losses, and are ahead of the Avispas (30-21) by a better win-loss average.

In the other games of the day, Industriales blanked Camagüey 8-0, with Andy Vargas' sixth win, Matanzas beat Cienfuegos 7-6, Holguín lost 4-8 to Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus beat Ciego de Ávila 4-2 and Guantánamo lost to Las Tunas 0-8.