Today's game remained scoreless for four innings.
In that span, both teams got several baserunners, but failed to score.
Orientales left five runners, including three in scoring position, while Gigantes stranded four runners, but only one of them got into scoring position.
With that, it was more or less a pitching duel between Jonathan Aristil (Gigantes) and Fidencio Flores (Orientales).
In the top of the first at bat, with two outs, Jonel Pacheco and Juan Carlos Torres singled for the Orientales, but were left behind.
In the second, Yosvany Guerra led off with a single, moved on a sacrifice bunt and advanced to third base on a grounder, but then also stranded.
In the third, it was José Campusano who led off with a single.
He stole second base, but also stranded in scoring position.
And in the fourth, Janior Montes reached on an error, but was left at first base.
For the Gigantes, Wuillians Vásquez singled with two outs in the bottom of the first, but was forced out.
In the second inning, Anderson Féliz walked with two outs, but didn't get beyond first base.
After being retired in order in the third, the Gigantes got two baserunners in the fourth.
Vásquez led off with a walk and stole second base.
With two outs, Luis Allen Salazar also walked, but a flyout ended the at bat.
In the top of the fifth, Orientales broke the scoreless tie.
Iván Marín led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by José Campusano.
With two outs, Jonel Pacheco was walked intentionally, but then Juan Carls Torres followed with a runscoring single to give the team from Granada an 1-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Yosvany Guerra led off for Orientales with a single, but stranded on second base.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Gigantes got a chance to do something back.
Jimmy González led off with a walk, with powerhitters Wuillians Vásquez, Rubén Mateo and Yurendel de Caster coming up.
However, Vásquez popped out into foul territory.
Hereafter, Mateo hit the ball into short leftfield.
There, short stop Iván Marín made a spectacular over-the-shoulder-catch, but hut himself when he landed on the ground.
Despite that, he got up and threw the ball back to first base, trying to double up González.
He almost succeeded, but the ball was off base.
Marín was then treated for his injury, but was able to continue playing.
However, he was replaced in the next inning.
To set up a force play, De Caster was walked intentionally, then a grounder ended the at bat.
Orientales doubled its lead in the top of the seventh inning.
With one out, Ofilio Castro singled and moved on a grounder.
An intentional walk followed for Juan Carlos Torres, but again, this was followed by a runscoring single, this time by Donell Linares to make it 2-0 and resulting in a pitching change.
In the bottom of the seventh, tempers flared and the benches cleared.
Anderson Féliz led off with a walk and then Dwight Britton struckout.
While Britton walked back to the dug-out, he had an exchange of words with pitcher Fidencio Flores.
Initially, Gigantes' Manager German Mesa accompanied Britton back to the dug-out, but he then suddenly ran towards the infield.
With that, the dug-outs emptied.
The 6-man umpiring crew quickly restored order, sending everyone back to the dug-outs.
A warning was the issued to both teams and the game continued.
Moments later, Féliz was forced out.
...Wuillians Vásquez while playing in the Netherlands...
...for HCAW in 2010; Tonight, he homered and...
...batted in four runs for Gigantes...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Orientales then failed to add more runs in the top of the eighth when it got the bases loaded.
With one out, Renato Morales singled and a pitching change followed.
Berman Espinoza took over, but was greeted with a single by Fausto Súarez, who had replaced Iván Marín.
With two outs, the bases got loaded when Ofilio Castro walked, but a force play then ended the inning.
Gigantes then made it a new ballgame in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Orientales-starter Fidencio Flores was relieved by Wilder Rayo, but was credited with a Blown Save.
First, he gave up a single to Jimmy González and then Wuillians Vásquez drove the ball into deep rightfield for a 2-run homerun that tied the score!
This was his third homerun of the series.
Rayo was replaced by Jorge Bucardo, who retired the next three batters.
Orientales re-took the lead in the top of the ninth on two errors off of new pitcher Wilton López.
With two outs, Yosvany Guerra reached on an error.
He then moved to third base on a single into centerfield by Moisés Flores.
However, centerfielder Dwight Britton led the ball go by him and that enabled the speedy Guerra to continue running and score to give Orientales a 3-2 lead.
With Flores on second base, an intentional walk followed, then a force out ended the at bat, but Orientales had taken the lead again.
The excitement continued in the bottom of the ninth inning, as Gigantes came back again off of new pitcher Darwin Cubillán.
First, centerfielder José Campusano made a nice running catch on a long drive by Dwight Britton, but then Ramón Flores followed with a double.
He advanced to third base on a grounder by Omar Obregón.
Hereafter, Jimmy González was hit by a pitch, but that brought Wuillians Vásquez to the plate.
And the hot-hitting Venezuelan struck again.
This time, he drilled the ball into rightfield for a runscoring single that brought in Flores and made it a 3-3 score.
Next batter Rubén Mateo lined out and so, the game went into extra innings.
In the eleventh inning, Orientales again stranded three runners.
With one out, Donell Linarres singled.
His pinch-runner advanced when next batter Yosvany Guerra also singled.
The two moved on a grounder, then the bases were loaded by issuing an intentional walk to Renato Morales.
This time, the set-up for a force play was successful, as that happened on the following grounder.
In the top of the 12th, Orientales left another runner behind in scoring position.
José Campusano led off with a single and moved on a sacrice bunt, but then was left behind.
Gigantes also left a runner in scoring position in its twelfth at bat.
With one out, Rubén Mateo singled, but was forced out on a grounder by Yurendell de Caster.
The Curaçao-born infielder moved to second base when next batter Luis Allen Salazar was hit by a pitch, but a long flyout ended the inning.
In the 13th inning, Orientales decided the game by scoring two runs.
Yosvany Guerra led off with a triple.
With one out, Renato Morales was walked intentionally.
The set-up for the force play almost worked, as Juan Oviedo followed with a double play-grounder.
However, an error was made on second base, which enabled Guerra to score and put runners on first and second base.
They advanced on a wild pitch, then Morales scored an insurance run on a sacrifice fly by José Campusano to make it 5-3 in favor of Orientales.
In the bottom of the 13th inning, Gigantes also scored again.
Róger Marín took over the pitching, but with one out, he walked Ramón Flores and Darrel Campbell.
Marín was replaced by Rodney Rodríguez, who got a flyout, but then faced Wuillians Vásquez.
And he struck again!
Vásquez singled to bring in Flores and with that batted in all four runs of Gigantes tonight.
With runners on first and second base, the game ended when Campbell was forced out on a grounder by Rubén Mateo.
Related Articles:
 Oriental narrow deficit by winning G3 Nicaraguan Final. (January 15)
Gigantes, De Caster also win Game 2 Nicaraguan Final. (January 13)
Gigantes open Nicaraguan Final with win; Former HCAW-player homers. (January 12)
Yurendell de Caster in Nicaraguan Final. (January 11)
Curt Smith moves into first place in Nicaragua with Tigres. (November 29)
Curt Smith homers in first game in Nicaragua. (November 27)
|
Orientales equals Nicaraguan Final with 13th inning win
RIVAS (Nicaragua) -
In an exciting fourth game, which lasted almost five hours, on Saturday (January 16), Orientales de Granada won 5-4 in 13 innings vs. Gigantes de Rivas to equal the best-of-seven Champonship Final in the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional.
The Gigantes, the team of Netherlands Team-player Yurendell de Caster, had won the first two games of the Nicaraguan final.
By winning tonight, Orientales not only equaled the series at 2-2, but also secured at least as sixth game.