THEY ROLLED OVER Matanzas and Wasps with a Knockout, Gallos and Tigres through the wide door

By Jose Alejandro Rodriguez Zas

This Tuesday, January 25, two days after the opening game, the first subseries of the regular calendar of this 61st edition of the National Baseball Series began. A total of eight games took place in the same number of venues on the island, with the return to the stands of the Cuban ball-loving public.

On this first date, the Wasps of Santiago de Cuba and the Crocodiles of Matanzas exploded greatly on offense, to the point of defeating their rivals on the fast track, including a Super KO in the case of the Yumurinos. In a duel of contenders, the Tigres de Ciego de Ávila whitewashed the Leñadores de Las Tunas, while the Gallos de Sancti Spíritus narrowly beat the Toros de Camagüey, at their José Antonio Huelga grounds.

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At the Calixto García stadium in Holguín, the Wasps of Santiago de Cuba did not believe in the pitching of the Cubs and added their first victory of the season with a score of 14×2, knockout in seven innings.

The indomitable team scored four runs in the same first episode against left-hander Luis Ángel Gómez (0-1), the Cubs’ starter when they combined singles by Santiago Torres and Marlon Serrano, with two errors by the Holguín defense.

Then, the boys from Rosales added four more runs, divided equally between the third and fourth episodes, until defining the clash with a cluster of six runs in the opening of the seventh, against the relief pitching of Holguín, a team that scored their only two runs in the bottom of the third.

The people from Santiago had 14 hits to only four of their rivals, playing immaculate defense, while the Cubs had four blunders.

Third baseman Yoelkis Guibert (CF) went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and an RBI, in addition to three runs scored, while Marlon Serrano (1B) also went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. For Holguín, the bow man, Laindel Leyva, compiled 4-2 with a push.

From the mound, the indomitable Carlos Font (1-0) added his first success of the season with five full innings of action, two earned and three hits, in addition to striking out three rivals and granting four walks.

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In the Victoria de Girón yumurino, the Matanzas Crocodiles were too much for the Cienfuegos Elephants and they did not stop hitting until they defeated them by Super KO in five innings, with a final score of 20×5, marking all his annotations in two immense rallies.

The Matanzas fell early on the shipments of Cienfuegos starter Luis Alejandro Serpa (0-1) who could not get outs and allowed four of the 11 runs that the Crocodiles scored in the opening inning itself, in which they reached base to their first nine men and they all scored, including home runs by Jefferson Delgado, Erisbel Arruebarruena and the second of the season by Eduardo Blanco.

From then on, no rival pitcher was able to stop the current runner-up from Cuba, accumulating 21 hits, scoring another nine-run rally in the third inning, when Javier Camero hit Matanzas’ fourth home run of the game.

For his part, Cienfuegos tried to get close in the second inning, scoring five runs against Crocodiles starter Yamichel Pérez (1-0), who withstood a home run by Juan Miguel Soriano. However, the left-hander managed to improve his work and completed the route with six hits allowed, two earned, four strikeouts and three walks. Both teams made a mistake on defense.

All Matanzas regulars had at least two hits, except Javier Camero, who added three RBIs and a home run. Ariel Sánchez (RF, 4-3, 3 doubles, 2 CI, 3CA), Jefferson Delgado (DH, 4-3. HR, 2 doubles, 4 CI, 3 CA) and Andrys Pérez (R, 3-3, CI, 2 CA) were the most productive for the Yumurinos, while Juan Miguel Soriano (LF, 3-2, HR, 2 CI, CA) stood out for the Elefantes.

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In one of the most interesting duels of the day, the veteran right-hander Yander Guevara (1-0) was better than the international Carlos Juan Viera (0-1), in a match in which the Ciego de Ávila Tigers whitewashed the Leñadores of Las Tunas with marker of 4×0.

The races of the Avilanians came in a trickle, sometimes taking advantage of Viera’s lack of control. In the bottom of the second, they combined a walk and two singles to open the scoreboard, a run driven in by Raúl Valdés. In the third, a double by Raúl González and an unstoppable by Osvaldo Vázquez widened the difference, while in the fourth, a double by Alfredo Fadraga opening the inning, a ground ball by Valdés that took him to third base and a deflected shot by Viera, they put the 3×0. The lace came in the seventh by Raúl’s sacrifice fly.

Yander walked for 7 2/3 innings without allowing one of the hardest-hitting teams in the fair, although he allowed 10 hits and barely struck out a batter, but without giving away walks. Yosvany Ávalos (1) came on as relief in the opening of the eighth, with men on third and second and two outs on the board, and dominated the dangerous Rafael Viñales with the first one unoccupied, to score the save.

For the Lumberjacks, Viera worked in five complete episodes, with the same number of hits and three clean ones allowed, striking out two with three walks, to bear his first loss of the fair.

On offense, receiver Alfredo Fádraga (3-2, double, AC) stood out for the Avilanians, while for Las Tunas, the forward man, Dailier Peña, had a perfect 4-4 performance and the Alarcón brothers, Yosvani (4- 2, double) and Yordanis (4-3 double) also did very well but in a losing effort

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Finally, in the Huelga, the Gallos de Sancti Spíritus came from below and won 9×2 to the Toros de Camagüey, with an offense of 13 hits, scoring all their runs between sixth and eighth innings.

In the first half of the match, there was a pitching duel between Ángel Luis Márquez (5.0, 1 CL) and Yayabero Yankiel Mauris (6.0 EL, 2 CL), who did very well in the opening game of their respective teams in the season.

The Bulls went up in the fourth scoring two runs, due to two home runs by Luis González and Leslie Anderson, but in the sixth, the Roosters scored three and took control, taking advantage of an error, two walks and two hits, including double Alberto Rodríguez who put the 3×2 on the board.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Sancti Spiritus sealed the victory with a five-run rally against the uncontrolled relief pitching of the Toros and taking advantage of doubles by Rodolexis Moreno and Daviel Gómez. The lace came in the eighth by Yunier Mendoza’s sacrifice fly.

The victory went to starter Yankiel Mauris (1-0) and the setback was charged by reliever Marlon Soriano (0-1), while José Luis Braña (1) scored the save.

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In other results of the day, the Vegueros de Pinar del Río defeated the Piratas de la Isla 4×1; the Alazanes de Granma defeated the Indios de Guantánamo 6×2; the Mayabeque Hurricanes beat the Villa Clara Leopards 6×5, while the Artemisa Hunters left the Industriales Blues to the field in extra innings with a score of 8×7.