If Vegueros beat Industriales today, they would return to a final ten years later, when in 2014 they beat Matanzas, 4-2, in the play off for the 53rd Serie Nacional title.
After the offensive storm came the bad weather for the Alazanes de Granma, ambushed by the Leñadores Tuneros in a trap that ended up making them succumb to their axes, in the resumption, at last, of the play-off between the two teams.
We had said that this semi-final, between two teams with a lot of power in their pitching staff, was going to depend on the ability of the pitchers to neutralise that power. That is what the Las Tunas team did yesterday, especially when they called up their reliever Rodolfo Díaz early.
The reliever froze the opposing bats in three innings, in which he tolerated two hits, gave away one ticket and struck out another, to underpin the victory of starter Yadier Zamora, who endured seven of Granma’s ten hits, and allowed the four runs in five episodes.
Quite the opposite happened in the cavalry’s mound, harassed from its first defender, left-hander Yunier Castillo, who left without getting an out, transferring the first batter, taking two consecutive hits and then, with the bases loaded, Rafael Viñales’ home run. As if that wasn’t enough, the next batter, Denis Peña, also hit another four-cornerer.
Viñales, with that home run, plus two hits and another RBI, was the best hitter of the game, compiling 4-3.
Roberto Baldoquín, Yosvani Alarcón and Viñales, second, third and fourth in the Tunera line-up, scored five of the 11 runs; they hit six of the 11 rockets their team gave up, and also towed a quintet of tallies.
In contrast, that same segment of the Granma line-up (Osvaldo Abreu, Alfredo Despaigne and Guillermo Avilés) had a meagre two hits in 12 innings, scored one at home and pushed none across.
Today, both teams will return to the pitch at the Julio A. Mella stadium, in a play-off that, in terms of payroll and results over the last ten years, is much more even than the one between Pinar del Río and Industriales. If the Leñadores win again, they would force the Alazanes to win three in a row, a story the Tuneros already know from the 57th season.
And if the Vegueros beat Industriales today, they would return to a final ten years later, when, in 2014, they beat Matanzas, 4-2, in the play-off for the 53 Serie Nacional title.
