Industriales close to qualify to second stage of Cuban baseball series

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 22 (acn) Industriales is at the gates of the qualification for the second phase of the Cuban baseball championship after knocking out 12-0 Camaguey, to be ratified in the second seat of the standings.

The right-hander Frank Monthiet starred an extraordinary pitching performance when allow ing only two hits and striking out six in eight innings, supported by attack of 14 hits, with highlight to shortstop Lourdes Y. Gourriel, who hit 3 for 4 with a home run and five RBIs.

Pinar del Rio and Matanzas also achieved important victories against Ciego de Avila and Artemisa, respectively, to increase their chances of qualifying to the elite stage of the tourney.

The first of them knoc ked out 11-1 Artemisa Hunters, with the third win of the season for the ace Yosvani Torres and offensive highlight of Juan Carlos Arencibia, Reinier Leon, William Saavedra, Dayron Hernandez and Pedro Luis Duenas, all with two RBIs per capita.

Meanwhile, Yoandry Ruiz allowed three hits and two earned runs in six innings to lead Matanzas to a close 4-3 win over the leader Ciego de Avila.

Villa Clara kept alive its hopes by beating Mayabeque 10-4, with third baseman Yeniet Perez hitting 5 for 5 including a homer and five RBIs, seconded by shortstop Marcos Fonseca, author of homer and a couple of RBIs.

In turn, the runner up Isla de la Juventud defeated 3-1 Las Tunas to feed its options to access the next phase, with Luis Manuel Suarez as winner and save to Danny Aguilera, while outfielder Leonardo Urgellés went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

In contrast, Cienfuegos suffered a costly 4-1 loss against Sancti Spiritus in match marked by excellent pitching performance of Yamichel Perez, who allowed only four hits and one unearned run in nine innings.

Granma was winning 3-2 over Guantanamo when the game was suspended in the seventh, while the ga me Holguin-Santiago de Cuba was stopped at the beginning of the tenth inning tied at one run apiece.

With five days to the official closing of the qualifying stage, not counting the suspended matches, Ciego de Avila leads with 27 winss and 10 losses, followed by Industriales ( 26-14), Pinar del Río ( 22-12), Granma (24-14), Las Tunas (23-14), Holguin and Matanzas ( 22-17), Guantanamo ( 20-18), Cienfuegos (19-18), Isla de la Juventud and Villa Clara (20-20), Sancti Spiritus (19-21), Santiago of Cuba (15-24), Camagüey (11-29), Artemisa (10-27) and Mayabeque (7-32).