Yasmani Tomás
Havana, April 4 (PL) - The Industriales Leones evened the sub-series against one of their biggest rivals in recent times by beating the leader Ciego de Avila 9-3 in the Cuban baseball season. The victory of the Industriales of the capital was the third defeat for the Tigres, who have 17 hits in the campaign, with which they maintain the lead with a three-game advantage over their closest rival, Pinar del Río.
Industriales counted on a quality start by Andy Vargas (7.0 IP, 1CL, 5H, 2K) and tight relief by Frank Herrera in the next two innings, while former major leaguer Yasmani Tomás hit a double and his first home run after his return to Cuban baseball, valid to push three runs.
Pinar del Río took advantage of the setback of the leaders to take sole possession of second place in the standings after beating Camagüey (8-3).
For Pinar, William Saavedra hit his eighth home run and joined Alfredo Despaigne in the leadership of the tournament's home run hitters, while Yaser Julio González hit his seventh home run and both Pinar del Río players drove in a couple of runs to support the work of the winning pitcher Jenier Álvarez.
In the other match, Matanzas returned the blow and defeated Granma (19-10) after Tuesday's game ended 18-10 in favor of the Alazanes.
On Wednesday, the Cocodrilos hit six home runs, led by José Noroña and Eduardo Blanco, who each hit two, as well as José Prens and Ariel Sánchez, who hit one apiece, in Ariel's case the 97th of his life.
For the GranMenses, Darián Palma and Damián Moreno also hit four base hits in a losing cause.
In the other subseries, the same winners repeated, who were one win away from clinching the match.
Artemisa beat Villa Clara 11-2, Sancti Spíritus defeated Guantánamo 5-4, Santiago de Cuba left Mayabeque on the field in extrainning (10-9), Las Tunas overcame Cienfuegos 8-2 and Holguín was better than La Isla (7-2).
After Ciego de Avila (16-3), Pinar del Río (13-6), Camagüey and Industriales (12-7), Granma (11-8), Las Tunas (8-6), Matanzas and Artemisa (10-9), La Isla (6-8), Mayabeque and Santiago de Cuba (8-11), Villa Clara, Holguín and Sancti Spíritus (7-12) and Cienfuegos and Guantánamo (6-13) are in the standings.
