On Saturday, the Tigres del Licey defeated the Estrellas Orientales 11-5, and stayed in first place. The Toros del Este defeated the Aguilas Cibaenas 9-4 and the Gigantes del Cibao and Leones del Escogido were rained out.
In yesterday’s action, the return of pitcher Nelson Figueroa helped the Aguilas shut out the Tigres del Licey, 5-0 in Santiago’s Estadio Cibao. Figueroa pitched seven scoreless innings and Dan Mayer and Randy Choate finished the shutout. Luis Polonia got hit #880 in the fifth inning. The Aguilas scored three runs in the first inning with a hit by Michael Bourn, a walk to Polonia, another walk to Victor Diaz, a single to center by Melky Cabrera, Mendy Lopez is hit by a pitch, Alberto Castillo a walk and Diaz scored on the passed ball.
Over in the Quisqueya Ball Park in Santo Domingo, the Leones del Escogido managed to defeat the Estrellas Orientales 6-4. The defeat almost seals the fate for the lowly Estrellas who would now have to win their next 19 games in a row to finish at .500 and have a chance at the playoffs. The Leones won the game with two runs in the seventh to break a 4-4 tie.
In La Romana’s Francisco Micheli Stadium the Toros del Este defeated the Gigantes del Cibao 7-4. Even though the Gigantes closed to within one run in the seventh inning, the Toros scored two more runs in the eighth to seal the deal.
Standings
Team
W-L
Avg.
Games Behind
LICEY
19 – 12
.612
—
TOROS
18 – 12
.600
0.5
GIGANTES
17 – 12
.586
1.0
AGUILAS
17 – 13
.557
1.5
ESCOGIDO
13 – 16
.448
5.0
ESTRELLAS
6 – 25
.193
13.0
Tonight’s games
Julian Javier Stadium in San Francisco de Macoris 7:30pm: Aguilas vs Gigantes (Lima vs Bastardo)
Francisco Micheli Stadium in La Romana 7:30pm: Estrellas vs Aguilas