(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Granma re-takes lead in Cuban Semi-Final
Nederlands
 SANCTI SPÍRITUS (Cuba) -
Alazanes de Granma recorded a big, 7-inning, mercy-rule, 12-1 victory on Tuesday-afternoon (February 23) against Vegueros de Pinar del Río in the third game of the best-of-seven Semi-Final of the 60th edition of the Cuban Serie Nacional de Béisbol.
Granma won the opener on Saturday with a 9-2 score.
The next day, Pinar del Río trailed 3-2, but then scored eleven runs in the seventh and eighth inning combined to record a mercy-rule 13-3 victory in eight innings.
Game 4 will be played on Wednesday.
Reigning champion Cocodrilos de Matanzas also reached the Semi-Final by completing a sweep last Tuesday (February 16).
They have to wait until the conclusion of the belated last Quarter Final to know who they will face.
In this Quarter Final, Avispas de Santiago de Cuba plays against Leñadores de Las Tunas.
Santiago de Cuba opened with a 7-4 win on January 26, but thereafter, this series was put on hold, as there were several positive cases of the coronavirus in the team of Santiago de Cuba.
The series will resume on Sunday, February 28.
Pinar del Río vs. Granma
Granma, which collected 14 basehits, opened the score early in the first inning and already led 6-0 halfway the third at bat.
Pinar del Río then scored what would be its lone run in the bottom of the third, but Granma added six more runs thereafter.
Granma scored its first run in the top of the first inning off of starting pitcher Yaifredo Domínguez Pérez.
That run was scored with one out when Osvaldo Abreu Sánchez and Raico Santos Almeida hit back-to-back doubles.
The second run was added in the second inning.
With one out, Guillermo García García doubled and moved to third base on a single by Yulián Rafael Milán Santos.
When the latter was forced out on a grounder by Alexquemer Sánchez Sánchez, García scored.
A 4-run rally followed in the third inning.
With one out, Raico Santos Almeida singled and Carlos Benítez Pérez was hit by a pitch.
Daniel Fernández Bass then took over the pitching for Pinar del Río-starter Domínguez, but he was greeted with a runscoring single by Iván Prieto González.
An error on a force play-grounder by Miguel Antonio González Puente then loaded the bases.
Next, a run was scored when Guillermo García García walked and when Yulián Rafael Milán Santos was hit by a pitch.
With the bases still loaded, another pitching change followed and Frank Abel Alvarez Díaz was inserted.
He began with a strikeout, but then saw another run being scored on a single by Roel Santos Martínez.
A grounder ended the at bat and Granma now led 6-0.
In the bottom of the third inning, Pinar del Río got one run back off of Granma-starter César García Rondón, who threw six fine innings.
But the home-team could have scored more runs in this at bat.
Pedro Luis Dueñas Castillo and Juan Carlos Arencibia Echeverria led off with singles, then the bases got loaded when Lázaro Emilio Blanco Hernández walked.
Dueñas then scored on a double play-grounder, but that would be the lone run for his team, as a flyout ended the at bat.
Granma scored another run in the top of the fourth on a 2-out single by Guillermo García García.
Two runs were added with two outs in the fifth inning.
With two runners on base, Iván Prieto González and Miguel Antonio González Puente then produced RBI-singles.
Granma had another productive at bat in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs.
With the bases loaded and no outs, the first run was scored when Osvaldo Abreu Sánchez walked.
After a pitching change, a force play-grounder by Raico Santos Almeida and a single by Carlos Benítez Pérez lifted the lead to 12-1.
After having scored its run in the third inning, Pinar del Río didn't get another scoring opportunity in the remainder of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, the team was retired in order by reliever Juan Danilo Pérez Meriño and that ended the game.
(February 23)
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