The Matanzas and Artemisa teams travel today with a one-win tie to the latter’s facilities, where they will resume between Friday and Sunday the final for the title of the Cuban elite baseball league.
The Cazadores, debutants in the series for the gold, left a very good impression in the two initial games, especially in the second one when they won 6-3 with a good job by pitchers Raymond Figueredo and Liván Moinelo.
The left-hander from Pinar del Río walked 3.1 innings, with 54 pitches, an unusual amount for him, who said that he is training for if he is sent to join the rotation of his club SoftBank Falcons in the Japanese league.
Before another large turnout of fans at the Victoria de Girón Park in this city, located a little more than 100 kilometers east of Havana, the Artemiseños negotiated the hug in the match, a result always expected by the visiting teams in championship series.
After the defeat in the first game (5-6), where indecision in the running of the bases was a factor that frustrated at least two runs, the Artemiseños came out yesterday ready to secure a victory with which to change the venue with parity in the playoff for the scepter.
Among the best notes of the Cazadores was the ability to react in just 24 hours, led by the tandem of pitchers Figueredo and Moinelo, while at bat Raul Gonzalez and Andy Cosme pushed two runs each.
If on the first day they committed three costly errors in the field, on the second day they only made one mistake and that was a bad throw by Figueredo to second base that advanced runners, later driven in by a tubey by Sánchez.
That was the last action of the starter and winner in the game, as a hit from the connection after which he made the deflected throw, forced him to leave the game.
Figueredo said that he is waiting for the doctors’ evaluation when the swelling goes down, but he was confident that he will have another start in the final.
The starters for the third game are yet to be defined, although Matanzas is almost certain to rely on Yadián Martínez, while Artemisa is shuffling three cards: Erlis Casanova, Albert Valladares and Yunieski García, who is recovering from a sprain suffered in the last duel in the Latinoamericano against Industriales.
None of the specialized press covering the final of the tournament considers that there will be a sweep in Artemisa and agree that the champion will come out of the sixth or seventh duel, returning to Matanzas next week.
