Unprecedented event marks Saturday in Cuban baseball season

Villa Clara's Elio Alvarez starred in Santa Clara in an unprecedented event in the history of the 63rd national series of Cuban baseball, when he made his debut at bat with an inside-the-park home run.

Alvarez became the 12th player on the island to hit a home run in his first appearance at bat, but none had ever done it with a leg home run, as this type of complete-turn connections are also called, according to the archives of the eminent statistician Benigno Daquinta.

The four-base connection came in the third inning with a runner on second base and contributed to Villa Clara's first success in the sub-series against Matanzas, after three straight losses.

Of the dozen men who, in their first appearance in the island's baseball tournaments, hit complete game runs, three were emerging players and four represented teams from Holguin.

The first to make his offensive debut with a home run was Ramiro Leyva, on December 23, 1979 against Guantanamo and the list is completed with Eduardo Jimenez (Ciego de Avila, 12-19-1982), Ariel Garcia (extinct Forestales, 11-7-1991, first as a pinch hitter) and Miguel Perez (Holguin, 12-15-94, after three seasons as a pitcher).

Also, Andrés de la Cruz (Guantánamo, 2-12-2004), Osvaldo Vázquez (Ciego de Ávila, 17-12-2008), David Remedios (Industriales, 21-12-2008), Maikel Serrano (Pinar del Río, 21-12-2014), Jorge Luis Peña (Holguín, 1-9-2015), Víctor Labrada (Industriales, 12-8-2018) and Víctor Paz (Holguín, 3-2-2022) started with a home run.

Saturday's day also saw the leader Ciego de Avila beat Sancti Spíritus 4-3, Pinar del Río beat Santiago de Cuba (9-3), Mayabeque gave Industriales a super KO (17-0), Cienfuegos overcame Artemisa (4-3), Camagüey left Granma on the field (6-5) and Holguín defeated Guantánamo (15-10).