In Santiago last night, Tuesday 27 November, the Aguilas Cibaenas squeaked by the Estrellas Orientales 8-7 to take a 4-3 lead in their individual series and climb to within a half game of the top slot in the standings. Catcher Wilin Perez once again hit a homerun, his second in three games, and pitcher TJ Pena scored his fourth win of the season as a reliever. The Aguilas took an 8-3 lead before the Estrellas inched to within one run of tying the game in the eighth inning, but pitcher Luis Perdomo was able to get the final outs and save the game for the Santiago team. The win gives the Aguilas 20 victories so far this year.
In La Romana, Raul Valdez celebrated his thirty-fifth birthday by pitching six solid innings and winning his first game of the year, 3-0 over the Tigres del Licey. This victory puts the Toros del Este firmly in third place in the standings. As a result the Tigres fell to 11-22 and could not advance with the defeat of the Gigantes del Cibao at the hands of Leones del Escogido. In that game the great Nelson Figueroa opened his season in Dominican baseball with a solid outing, leading the Leones to victory, 12-2 over the over the Gigantes. The victory puts Escogido just a game in back of the Gigantes who are in the all-important fourth and final spot in the playoff standings.
Standings
TEAM
WINS-LOSSES
AVG
GAMES BEHIND
ESTRELLAS
21 – 12
.636
—
AGUILAS
20 – 13
.594
0.5
TOROS
19 – 15
.545
3.0
GIGANTES
15 – 18
.469
5.5
ESCOGIDO
14 – 19
.406
7.5
LICEY
11 – 22
.333
9.5
Tonight’s action, Wednesday 28 November :
* Estadio Quisqueya, Santo Domingo, 7:30pm – Aguilas (T. Corcoran) vs. Escogido (D. Cabrera)
* Estadio Julian Javier, San Francisco de Macoris, 7:30pm – Toros (L. Slowey) vs. Gigantes (K. Pucetas)
* Tetelo Vargas Stadium, San Pedro de Macoris, 8pm – Licey (J. Teheran) vs. Estrellas (E. McClure)
For more on ongoing and upcoming events, see http://dr1.com/calendar