(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Granma also wins second game Cuban Final
Nederlands
 CIEGO DE ÁVILA, Ciego de Ávila (Cuba) -
Alazanes de Granma has taken a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Final of the Cuban Serie Nacional de Beisbol by winning 3-2 on Thursday (January 19) against defending champion Tigres de Ciego de Ávila.
Granma opened the Championship Final on Wednesday with a 4-3 win in 10 innings.
The Series now moves to Bayamo, the capital city of the Granma Province in the south of Cuba and continues on Saturday.
In Game Two on Thursday, Granma scored its first run in the first at bat and added two in the seventh inning.
Ciego de Ávila scored its two runs in the eighth.
The game was a pitching-duel in the first six innings.
32-year old Granma-starter Noelvis Entenza dominated for seven innings in which the righthander gave up only two basehits.
34-year old Bladimir Baños was the starter for Ciego de Ávila.
The righthander struckout five batters and gave up four hits in his first six innings, but also a run in the opening at bat.
In the top of the first inning, Baños began with a strikeout.
But hereafter, he gave up a double to Yordan Manduley, then a single to Yunior Paumier, which led to a run and an early lead for Granma.
Hereafter, Baños retired 12 batters in a row and 16 of the next 18.
Granma didn't got into scoring position again until the seventh inning.
...Noelvis Entenza pitching for Cuba during the...
...2013 World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the fifth, Baños gave up an one-out single to Guillermo Avilés, but he stranded on first base.
In the sixth, the righthander gave up a lead-off single to Raico Santos, but he was caught stealing.
Granma then took some more distance in the top of the seventh inning, scoring two insurance runs.
Alfredo Despaigne led off with a walk, then Dennis Laza followed with a double.
The two scored when next batter Carlos Benítez singled to make it a 3-0 score.
Hereafter, Baños was relieved by Erly Casanova.
He struckout two of the next four hitters to end the inning.
In the eighth and ninth inning, Granma got a baserunner with one out, but both were forced out.
Granma-starter Noelvis Entenza retired the first nine batters in a row.
Through seven innings, the righthander retired 21 of the 24 batters he faced.
In these seven innings, Ciego de Ávila got into scoring position only twice, stranding runners on second base in the fourth and fifth inning.
In the fourth inning, Julio Pablo Martínez led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Dainier Galvez, but then was left behind.
In the fifth, Osvaldo Vázquez led off with a walk and got into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Yoelvis Fiss, but also stranded.
In the seventh, Donald Duarte led off with a single, but didn't got beyond first base.
Trailing 3-0, Ciego de Ávila finally was able to do something back in the bottom of the eighth inning and scored two unearned runs.
Abdel Civil led off with a walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Daikel Leiva.
Hereafter, Yorbis Borroto singled.
With runners on first and second base and no outs,Noelvis Entenza was relieved by Miguel Lahera.
With one out, Borroto was forced out on a grounder by Julio Pablo Martínez.
Leiva advanced to third base and then scored when next batter Dainier Galvez reached on an error.
The latter was then also replaced by a pinch-runner, Roy Echemendia.
With runners on first and second base, Donald Duarte delivered a runscoring single that narrowed the deficit to only 3-2.
Martínez scored, while Echemendia advanced to third base.
But they were left behind when a grounder ended the at bat.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Osvaldo Vázquez led off with a single for Ciego de Ávila and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Yoelvis Fiss.
But hereafter, a strikeout and grounder ended the game.
(January 20)
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