The IV Cuban Baseball Elite League enters its decisive stage with Mayabeque, Artemisa and Matanzas in a heated battle for the last spot in the semifinals after a day of contrasts and long hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With just two games remaining, Mayabeque (17-20), Artemisa (16-21), and Matanzas (15-21) are walking a tightrope in the standings, where every detail could tip the scales, the outcome of which remains uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Nelson Fern\u00e1ndez Stadium, the Huracanes<\/em> de<\/em> Mayabeque<\/em> struck first against the Cocodrilos de Matanzas<\/em> in the doubleheader, winning 7-6 with an 11-hit offensive display and defense that shut down the defense in crucial moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeison Mart\u00ednez, unhittable at the plate (3-for-4), and Frank Alfonso (1-for-3) led the way with home runs, while Rafael de Jes\u00fas \u00c1lvarez responded with one for Matanzas in a relentless contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilber Reyna pitched a flawless 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit, before H\u00e9ctor Berm\u00fadez secured the save, leaving Jos\u00e9 Carlos Quesada\u2019s seven-inning start unrewarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second game saw a dramatic turn of events with an offensive onslaught from Matanzas, who racked up 14 runs and 18 hits, including two home runs by Jos\u00e9 Amaury Noro\u00f1a and another by Eduardo Blanco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luis Manuel Hern\u00e1ndez earned the win despite allowing five runs in 1.2 innings, while Kendry Hern\u00e1ndez took the loss after surrendering seven runs in 3.1 innings. Frederich Cepeda also made his mark in the game with his 395th career home run in national championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the 26 de Julio stadium, Artemisa stunned league-leading Industriales with a 13-11 victory, fueled by an explosive seven-run third inning that turned the game around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between walks, a hit-by-pitch, an error, and six hits\u2014including Dayan Garc\u00eda\u2019s RBI double and Juan Manuel P\u00e9rez\u2019s grand slam\u2014the Cazadores built a lead they then fiercely defended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n P\u00e9rez punished them again in the fifth with another home run off Misael Fonseca, followed by one from L\u00e1zaro Fern\u00e1ndez, in an offensive outburst that left the capital\u2019s team, who woke up too late, with no room to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Geonel Guti\u00e9rrez held the lead with five innings, allowing three runs, one on a home run by Yaser Julio Gonz\u00e1lez, while Roberto \u00c1lvarez hit a home run for Industriales in a six-run seventh inning that fell short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jos\u00e9 \u00c1ngel Garc\u00eda retired the final batter to earn the save, as the Blues threatened to tie the game in the ninth inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Calixto Garc\u00eda Stadium, Holgu\u00edn defeated Las Tunas 13-10 in a battle of playoff teams, closing the gap dangerously in the standings after an offensive explosion where the ball seemed to defy the stadium\u2019s size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Euclides P\u00e9rez and Yasiel Gonz\u00e1lez both homered, the latter with his 18th home run of the season, solidifying his lead and extending his record in selective tournaments. On the other side, Yasser Izaguirre, Fernando de la Paz, and Yudier Rond\u00f3n responded with home runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carlos Santiesteban earned the win despite allowing six runs\u2014five unearned\u2014in five innings, while Andier Reyes took the loss in relief, surrendering three runs in 1.1 innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the day, Industriales (22-16) continues at the top, followed by Las Tunas (20-16), Holgu\u00edn (21-17), Mayabeque (17-20), Artemisa (16-21) and Matanzas (15-21), in a table where the last ticket continues to be written with a stroke of uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The IV Cuban Baseball Elite League enters its decisive stage with Mayabeque, Artemisa and Matanzas in a heated battle for the last spot in the semifinals after a day of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[42],"class_list":["post-11700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"authors":[{"term_id":42,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"radio-habana-cuba","display_name":"Radio Habana Cuba","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11702,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11700\/revisions\/11702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11700"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiorebelde.cu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=11700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}