After the three-day break for the All Star Game in Venezuela, the Dominican Winter Baseball League got under way again yesterday evening, Thursday 13 December. In San Pedro de Macoris the Aguilas Cibaenas were able to defeat the Estrellas Orientales 7-2, in a game that featured very good pitching from Samuel Deduno and power hitting by most of the Aguilas lineup: Hector Luna’s sixth homerun of the season was the featured hit but he was followed by hits by Manny Ramirez, Miguel Tejada and Jose Fernandez. In Santo Domingo, the Tigres del Licey sent the Toros del Este to their fourth straight defeat with a hit in the bottom half of the 16th inning, 4-3. In the 14th inning the Toros went one up on the Tigres but they staved off defeat and tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. Only El Caribe had the full coverage of the game. In San Francisco de Macoris the Leones del Escogido defeated the Gigantes del Cibao with powerful hits by Mauro Gomez, who hit a grand slam homerun, and Wilkin Castillo who drove in a run in the ninth inning to give the Leones the victory, 6-5. The Leones had to score four runs in the eighth inning in order to tie the game.
Standings
TEAM
WINS-LOSSES
AVG
GAMES BEHIND
*AGUILAS
28 – 16
.636
—
*ESTRELLAS
28 – 16
.636
—
GIGANTES
20 – 23
.465
7.5
TOROS
20 – 24
.455
8.0
ESCOGIDO
18 – 26
.409
10.0
LICEY
17 – 26
.395
10.5
* Classified for Round Robin.
Tonight’s games, Friday 14 December and possible starting pitchers:
* Estadio Quisqueya, Santo Domingo, 7:30pm – Gigantes (F. Castro) vs. Escogido (D. Cabrera)
* Estadio Cibao, Santiago de los Caballeros, 7:30pm – Estrellas Orientales (E. McClane) vs. Aguilas Cibaenas (Lorenzo Barcelo)
* Estadio Francisco Micheli, La Romana, 7:30pm – Tigres del Licey (E. Rogers) vs. Toros del Este (K. Slowey)