Cuban baseball: Villa Clara outside Qualification Zone

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 7 (acn) Villa Clara woke up today outside the zone of qualification to the second round of the Cuban baseball championship, after losing for the second consecutive day against Granma.

This time Villa Clara lost 5-3, with credit from the mound to Yanier Gonzalez, who reached his fifth win of the season when allowing eight hits and three earned runs in eight innings.
Veteran Ciro Silvino Licea earned the save, while outfielder Guillermo Aviles guided the offensive of winners by hitting 4 for 4 with three doubles, two runs and an RBI, seconded by catcher Alexander Guerra, author of a solo homer.
In the other matches of the day, Matanzas saw broken its chain of seven straight wins after losing 2-0 to Holguin, while Camaguey also broke the six-win streak of Pinar del Río after defeating them 2 -1.
Also, Cienfuegos beat Ciego de Avila 7-6 in a game suspended by lighting problems, but the current monarchs won the second match 9-2, to be ratified at the top of standings.
Finally, Las Tunas defeated Artemisa 9-2, thus achieving its fourth straight win, while Santiago de Cuba provided a super knock out of 20-1 to Isla de la Juventud; Guantanamo beat Mayabeque 13-3; and Sancti Spiritus won 5-2 over Industriales.
After these results, Ciego de Avila leads the standings of Cuban baseball with 21 wins and eight games lost, followed by Pinar del Río (18-9), Industriales (19-10), Granma (18-10), Las Tunas (17-10), Matanzas (16-12), Cienfuegos (14-12), Sancti Spiritus (15-14), Guantanamo (14-14), Villa Clara, Holguin and Isla de la Juventud (14-15), Santiago de Cuba (11-18), Artemisa (8-18), Camagüey (8-21) and Mayabeque (4-24).