Sancti Spíritus leads Cuban baseball championship

Havana, April 25 (ACN)-- The Sancti Spíritus Gallos continued to bite hard in the 61st edition of the National Baseball Series, by beating the reigning champions Alazanes de Granma 13 runs to three, who were swept at the Jose Antonio Huelga stadium.

The Espirituanos again started behind on the scoreboard in the first inning, but in the bottom of that inning they scored four runs, with a highlight for Diasmani Ortiz who pushed two runs to the rubber by connecting a hit with the bases loaded.

In addition, Moisés Esquerre homered with no men on in the fourth inning and Yunior Ibarra booted a run with two teammates on the bases in the sixth.

Then, the Yayabo team scored five more runs to decree the K.O. in the eighth. Left-hander Ariel Zerquera (7-2) had a good performance for the locals to get the credit, supported by Yankiel Mauri's sixth save.

With this result, the Gallos reached 39 wins and 24 losses, to remain alone at the top ahead of the Tigres de Ciego de Avila (38-25), who fell 4-7 against the Cachorros de Holguin (33-30).

In the case of the Holguineros, who took another step in their goal of being included in the post-season, they passed the broom to a team from Avila that at the beginning of that sub-series was the sole leader.

Also on Sunday, the Leones de Industriales (35-27) divided honors with the Azucareros de Villa Clara (29-30), to remain in the group of the top six in the standings.

The blue team from the capital won 3-1 in the second game, to avenge the 2-3 setback against the Villa Clara team earlier in the day at the Latinoamericano.

Likewise, the Piratas de la Isla de la Juventud (30-33) swept the Elefantes de Cienfuegos (19-44) with scores of 4-3 and 5-0, in the Sunday doubleheader at the Cristóbal Labra Stadium.

In other results, the Huracanes de Mayabeque (34-26) beat the Cazadores de Artemisa (24-35) for the second consecutive day as visitors at the 26 de Julio stadium, now with a score of 11-3.

Likewise, the Vegueros de Pinar del Río (31-32) sensationally beat the Cocodrilos de Matanzas (32-31) 7-6, at the Capitán San Luis de vueltabajo, to achieve an important success in their aspirations of not getting too far away from the playoff places.

That game was decided by Yaser Julio Gonzalez with a bunt at the time of picking up the bats, with one man on.
In Agramontina, at the Cándido González Stadium, the Indios de Guantánamo (24-39) stopped the Toros de Camagüey (28-35) 5-4, who saw their streak of four consecutive victories broken. For the Guantanameros, Pedro Pablo Revilla hit his 21st home run.

Nearby, at the Julio Antonio Mella Stadium in Las Tunas, the Avispas de Santiago de Cuba (30-33) broke their six-game losing streak with a 6-0 victory over the Leñadores, in a game in which Yoelquis Guibert hit his 15th SNB home run and Santiago Torres batted 5-4.

Veteran Alberto Bisset (5-7) came through with a great start and left-hander Yudier Rodríguez (3-4) lost.