Las Tunas remains undefeated at their home stadium Julio Antonio Mella and beat the Industriales 7-2 on Saturday to come out ahead in the fight for the title of the 62nd National Baseball Series (SNB).
Alejandro Meneses pitched for the Tuneros and Silvano Hechevarría for the visitors. Both pitchers had an acceptable performance. Meneses retired the first eight Industriales batters in a row until the first blue jit, which came off the bat of Roberto Acevedo, the best with the wood for his team, who went 4-3.
Coincidentally, both pitchers worked four and a third innings.
In the case of young Silvano, it was complicated on more than one occasion, but he was able to get the right out, advancing to be relieved by Rafael Perdomo.
The 62nd SNB rookie of the year did not show up and gave two tickets before power failures stopped the game for about an hour.
When the game resumed, Frank Herrera stepped into the box and took the loss despite striking out five times against the Lumberjacks’ fearsome artillery.
Prior to the incident with the luminaries, Rodolfo Díaz had come to Meneses’ rescue in the opposing bullpen.
The reliever, the eventual game-winner, turned in a night of brilliance and walked the rest of the way.
The Eastern team was led by Denis Peña (4-2, 2CI), Yosvani Alarcón (5-3, 2CI) and Héctor Castillo (5-2, 2B, 3B).
A pair of victories against Ciego de Avila, three against Matanzas and this Saturday’s victory over the Azules confirm that in the Leñadores’ forest there is little for the rivals to look for in this SNB.
The second game of the final will be played today at 6:00 p.m., with Eliander Bravo announced to start for the home team and Raymond Figueredo for the capital.
