Matanzas beat leader in Cuban baseball

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 15 (acn) Matanzas took revenge from the leader Ciego de Avila and the squads of Isla de la Juventud and Holguin added two victories per capita in the continuation last Sunday of the Cuban baseball championship.

The Matanzas Crocodiles beat 13-2 Ciego de Avila Tigers thanks to an offensive of 22 hits, including homer by Ariel Sánchez, who hit 4 for 5 and drove in two runs, and second baseman Anibal Medina, 4 for 6 with a double and four RBIs.

The winner Adrian Sosa allowed five hits and one earned run in solid relief of five innings and two thirds, while starting pitcher Yander Guevara took the loss for the cause of the current national monarchs, after allowing seven runs in just two innings.

Holguin defeated twice Industriales to approach the qualification zone to the playoffs: they won the first match with a score of 6-2, with two RBIs to the record of Yeison Pacheco and solo homer by Franklin Aballe, while Carlos Santiesteban was the winner.

In the second game Holguin won 10-1, with outfielder Reutilio Hurtado hitting 2 for 3, inclding a homer and three RBIs, to support the pitching performance o f Luis Angel Gomez, who only allowed one earned run and three hits in seven innings.

In the other double program of the day, Isla de la Juventud beat 9-5 Granma in the first game, with three RBIs by Felix Carbonell, and won by knockout 16 -5 at second hour, with home runs to the account of Rodmy Proenza and Ariel Hechevarría.

Finally, Las Tunas liquidated the current sub leader Pinar del Río by narrow margin of 5-4, in match marked by offensive highlight of Edilse Silva -2 for 4 including a homer and two RBIs- while Yudiel Rodriguez added his eighth win of the season by allowing no earned run and five hits in six innings.

Ciego de Avila leads the National Baseball Series with 48 wins and 24 losses, escorted by Pinar del Río (44-26), Matanzas (42-28), Industriales ( 43-30), Holguín (40-33), Las Tunas (39-34), Granma (37-36) and Isla de la Juventud (36-35).