The Vegueros signed their second knockout in a row, after beating Guantánamo 10-0 and need one more victory to stay out of the reach of the teams occupying ninth place in the standings.
Pitcher Mario Valle covered the entire route (7.0 IP, 3H, 2K) without walking and received offensive support from Tailon Sánchez, Yaser Julio González and Luis Pablo Acosta, who each hit home runs and drove in three runs each.
Las Tunas and Santiago de Cuba also achieved success at the start of the penultimate subseries of the regular calendar, which places them very close to their places in the quarterfinals.
The Leñadores, current monarchs, left Industriales on the field 8-7 with a couple of turns in the ninth inning, although that defeat does not compromise the comfortable position of the Lions at the forefront of the standings.
The game was decided by RBI hits from Yuniesky Larduet and Yudier Rondón against reliever and loser Yandi Molina.
The Eastern Wasps dealt a hard blow to Artemisa (10-3), which is still in eighth place, but now with three teams just one game behind.
Danny Betancourt, Olympic champion in Athens-2004, reached five successes in the season and 167 in his career, the highest winner among active pitchers in baseball on the island.
Ciego de Ávila continued to give up its advantage and fell 8-2 to Cienfuegos, the fourth loss in a row for the Tigres, who still maintain sixth place.
Tensions in the middle of the standings increased with Villa Clara’s victory over Mayabeque (3-1) and with the same score Sancti Spíritus defeated Camagüey.
The Leopardos entrusted themselves to their pitching, the one with the best effectiveness in the tournament (4.27), with victory for reliever Pedro Manuel Castillo, a result that further compromises Mayabeque’s claims.
On their grounds in Sancti Spíritus, a city that today celebrates its 510th anniversary, the Gallos won with good work from the tandem of pitchers Yohanny Hernández and Yankiel Mauris, winner and closer, respectively.
Matanzas also wasted its opportunity to establish itself in the qualifying zone by falling 13-6 against Holguín, whose winner Jesús Quintana worked two innings of relief and added his fifth victory without defeats.
At bat, Luis Miguel Santiesteban hit a pair of home runs and drove in four runs, while Yasiel González hit a home run and drove in two men to the plate.
Granma and La Isla will play a double program tomorrow, after the late arrival of the Pirates to the eastern city of Bayamo.
After these results, Vegueros de Pinar del Río maintains the lead (42-21), followed by Las Tunas (37-21), Granma (38-24), Industriales and Santiago de Cuba (36-27), Ciego de Ávila ( 34-29), Matanzas (32-31) and Artemisa (31-32).
Outside the classification zone, but very close, appear Villa Clara, Camagüey and Guantánamo (30-33), Sancti Spíritus (29-34), Mayabeque (28-34), while Cienfuegos and Holguín (23-40) and La Isla (19-38) are totally behind.
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