(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
    Tigres also wins second game in Nicaraguan Final
Nederlands
 RIVAS (Nicaragua) -
Tigres de Chinandega took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Championship Final of the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional by winning 6-5 against reigning champion Gigantes de Rivas on Saturday-evening (January 14).
On Friday-evening, Tigres opened the Nicaraguan Championship Series with a 9-6 victory.
At Estadio Yamil Ríos Ugarte in Rivas, Gigantes-starter Gustavo Martínez retired the side in the top of the first inning.
Moments later, he was supported with a run.
Tigres-starter Eulogio de la Cruz walked lead-off hitter Mark Joseph.
He then stole second base and was able to advance to third base when an error followed.
Catcher Dashenko Ricardo threw the ball to second base which ended up in the ground, but could have been stopped by second baseman Everth Cabrera.
However, Ricardo was credited with a throwing error.
Two groundouts followed, but hereafter Joseph scored the first run when Donell Linares doubled.
After a scoreless second inning, Tigres scored twice in the top of the third inning to turn the game its way.
With one out, Ismael Munguía singled.
He then stole second and also was able to move to the next base on a throwing error by catcher Luis Allen.
A following single by Everth Cabrera then enabled him to score the tying run.
Hereafter, Edgard Montiel hit the third consecutive basehit to put runners at the corners.
Curt Smith was the next batter and he appeared to hit into a double play, but was ruled safe at first base on a close-call.
However, on this grounder, Cabrera scored the second run for Tigres.
Trailing 2-1, Gigantes got the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth with one out, but failed to score.
With one out, Elmer Reyes singled, then Anderson Feliz and Ofilio Castro both walked.
But hereafter, Luis Allen grounded into an inning-ending double play.
...Yurendell de Caster...
...2 hits, run, RBI...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
And as happens frequently in these kind of situations when one team doesn't score, the other does.
In the top of the fifth, Tigres rallied for four runs to raise its lead to 6-1.
The bases got loaded quickly.
Jesús López led off with a walk and advanced on a sacrifice bunt, then Everth Cabrera and Edgard Montiel also walked to load the bases.
Hereafter, two runs were recorded on hits by two Dutch players.
First, a run was scored on a force play-grounder by Curt Smith, then Yurendell de Caster followed with a runscoring single.
That led to a pitching change, as Juan Bermúdes took over from starter Gustavo Martínez.
He was greeted with a runscoring ground-rule double by Osman Marval, then an error produced another run and made it 6-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, Gigantes also had a productive inning, rallied for three runs and narrowed the deficit to 6-4.
With one out, Darrel Campbell, Wuillians Vásquez and Donell Linares all singled to load the bases.
American Reginald Abercrombie followed with a 2-run double and that brought in a new pitcher.
Junior Téllez took over from Eulogio de la Cruz, but his first delivery ended in a sacrifice fly that brought in another run.
A pop-fly then ended the at bat, but it was now a 2-run difference score.
After Tigres was retired in order in the top of the sixth, Gigantes scored another run in the home half to make it a 6-5 score.
Ofilio Castro led off with a single, then Luis Allen was hit by a pitch.
Next batter Mark Joseph then lined out to pitcher Junior Téllez, who was able to make a double play.
Hereafter, Darrel Campbell singled and that brought in new pitcher Samuel Gervacio.
He gave up an RBI-single to Wuillians Vásquez, but with runners at first and third base, a flyout ended the at bat.
In the top of the seventh inning, Tigres failed to take more distance and left three runners behind.
With one out, Edgard Montiel singled and with two outs, Yurendell de Caster did the same.
The bases then got loaded when Osman Marval walked.
Hereafter, Francisco Valdivia took over the pitching and he ended the at bat by striking out powerhitter Jimmy González.
In the final three innings, three different pitchers retired the side of Gigantes to secure the minimal lead.
The game ended with a nice play by third baseman Jimmy González, who fielded a hard line drive.
(January 14)
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