Vegueros de Pinar del Río today resumed the position of head of the Cuban baseball tournament, after beating La Isla 19-1 with the 150th career victory of pitcher Bladimir Baños, Prensa Latina reports.
The Greens, also called Greens, after the color of the traditional uniform, produced 16 hits in seven innings, led by former Major Leaguer Alexei Ramírez, 3-for-4, tubey, home run, three RBIs and catcher Jorge Rojas, who shook Grand Slam in the same opening inning.
Baños added his third success of the season and became the fifth pitcher from Pinar del Río with 150 victories in the island’s baseball tournaments, behind the leader in the historical rankings, Pedro Luis Lazo (257), Rogelio García (203), Omar Ajete (179) and Faustino Corrales (172), according to the files of statistician Benigno Daquinta.
Saturday’s victory was combined with Las Tunas’ 4-5 defeat against Santiago de Cuba to generate a swap at the top of the competition.
Avispas left last year’s champions on the field with a couple of turns in the ninth inning, which decided the fate of the match won by reliever Reynaldo Álvarez and resulted in a setback for also closer Alberto Pablo Civil, co-leader in wins with six.
The three teams aspiring to complete the sweep in the weekly subseries fell today, among them Ciego de Ávila, reached by Camagüey in the third step of the ranking.
Tigres was the victim of Leopardos de Villa Clara 9-2, while Toros blanked Holguín (3-0) and curiously, the four games of that matchup have ended in a draw, three in favor of Camagüey and one for Cachorros.
Right-hander José Ramón Rodríguez covered the entire route in which he spaced out three hits, struck out seven rivals and signed his fifth success of the campaign, helped by a full return bat from also international Luis González.
Cienfuegos also got rid of the broom by defeating Mayabeque 6-4, with the fourth victory of Raikol Suárez and Granma beat Guantánamo 5-0, an outcome that allows it to share third place in the table with Avilenos and Camagüeys .
In the Latinoamericano in Havana, Artemisa defeated Industriales 8-5, based on long-range hitting, which produced home runs by José Antonio Jiménez, Andy Cosme and Henry Llorente, while José Ángel García saved his seventh game of the series, 305th for life, the only one with more than 150 blocks in national baseball.
Finally, Matanzas beat Sancti Spíritus (14-3) in seven innings and a 16-hit offensive led by Andrys Pérez, who drove in four runs.
Tomorrow the eight subseries conclude and only two of them will define the winner, after the hugs achieved today by Pinar del Río and Artemisa.
After Pinar del Río (28-13) and Las Tunas (24-12) appear Ciego de Ávila, Granma and Camagüey (24-17), Industriales (22-19), Artemisa and Santiago de Cuba (21-20).
Outside the classification zone are Matanzas (20-21), Sancti Spíritus and Mayabeque (18-23), La Isla (15-21), Villa Clara (17-24), Guantánamo and Holguín (16-25) and Cienfuegos (15-26).
