The Dominican Winter League Baseball Championship got hotter than ever last night as both the Aguilas Cibaenas and the Leones del Escogido were defeated. In Santiago, sloppy fielding by Joaquin Arias led to a three-run rally by the Estrellas Orientales, defeating the superb pitching performance by Lorenzo Barcelo, as just one mental error cost a run and one pitching mistake tied the game at three all. After that, the Estrellas were able to shut down the Aguilas’ offense while they scored four more runs with three of them coming off the bat of Eliezer Mesa’s three-run homerun in the seventh. The Aguilas were just not able to come back as one rally was killed by poor base running and another by good pitching from the Estrella’s relievers. This was the first win by the Estrellas against the Aguilas in the round robin section of the championship. Jordany Valdespin continued his torrid hitting, getting two more hits in five opportunities.
In the Francisco Micheli Stadium in La Romana, the Toros del Este, behind the solid pitching of Fernando Abad and the good hitting of Jose Ramirez, were able to defeat the Leones del Escogido by a score of 5-4. Abad and seven relievers held off the Leones’ attempts to win the game. Now the Toros have won three straight and are within one game of a first place tie with the Aguilas (9-6) and the Leones (9-6) and the Toros at 8-7.
Standings
TEAM
WINS-LOSSES
AVG
GAMES BEHIND
AGUILAS
9 – 6
.600
—
ESCOGIDO
9 – 6
.600
—
TOROS
8 – 7
.533
1.0
ESTRELLAS
4 – 11
.267
5.0
Tonight’s games, Tuesday 15 January and possible starting pitchers:
* Santiago, Estadio Cibao, 7:30pm – Toros del Este (A. Figaro) vs. Aguilas Cibaenas (S. Deduno)
* San Pedro de Macoris, Estadio Tetelo Vargas, 8pm – Leones del Escogido (N. Figueroa) vs. Estrellas Orientales (F. Castro)