On Friday night, 11 January the Leones del Escogido pretty much pushed the Estrellas to the very brink of disaster as they once again defeated them, 7-2, in a game played in the Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. The victory took the Leones into a first place tie with the Aguilas Cibaenas. Although the Estrellas were able to score a first-inning run off of left hander Kris Johnson, that was all he allowed over six good innings. Escogido tied the game in the third inning, and broke the game open with four runs in the fourth. In La Romana, the Toros del Este beat the Aguilas Cibaenas by a score of 4-3, in a tough game that was not decided until the eighth inning when ace reliever TJ Pena gave up a clutch single to allow the Toros to break a 3-3 tie.
On Saturday, 12 January there was no baseball and when the round robin series returned to action on Sunday, 13 January the Leones del Escogido were travelling to San Pedro de Macoris and the Toros visited Santiago. It did not go well for the Estrellas, falling once more to the Leones, this time by a score of 6-1. A homerun by Mauro Gomez and a great performance by Edward Valdez led the Leones to victory. In the meantime, in the Estadio Cibao in Santiago there was drama. With a near full house in attendance, the Aguilas staged a three-run rally in the ninth inning, capped off by a clutch hit by Leury Garcia that drove in the winning run! Trailing 4-2 going into the ninth inning, Juan Carlos Perez opens the inning with a homerun. Erick Almonte follows with a single and manager Felix Fermin sent in a pinch runner, Delvi Cid. Cid, the potential tying run, reaches second on a sacrifice bunt and goes to third on a ground out. Cid scored on a wild pitch and the game was tied 4-4. Elian Herrera worked the pitch count and got a base on balls and managed to steal second, setting up the scenario for Garcia. Garcia fouled off several pitches from left-hander Jeffry Antigua and finally got the ball he wanted, drove it into center field, and Herrera scored from second. Dramatic victory for the Aguilas! “What a game!” was the expression most heard as the fans left the stadium.
Standings
TEAM
WINS-LOSSES
AVG
GAMES BEHIND
AGUILAS
9 – 5
.643
—
ESCOGIDO
9 – 5
.643
—
TOROS
7 – 7
.500
2.0
ESTRELLAS
3 – 11
.214
6.0
Tonight’s games, Monday 14 January and possible starting pitchers
* Estadio Cibao, Santiago de los Caballeros, 7:30pm. – Estrellas Orientales (W. Lebron) vs. Aguilas Cibaenas (Lorenzo Barcelo)
* Francisco Micheli Stadium, La Romana, 7:30pm. – Leones del Escogido (R. Keisler) vs. Toros del Este (F. Abud)
For more on ongoing and upcoming events, see http://dr1.com/calendar