Las Tunas, representing Cuba in the first edition of the Baseball Champions League of the Americas (BCL Americas), defeated the Kane County Cougars (reigning champions of the American Association of Professional Baseball,17-10 this Saturday and advanced to the tournament final. It was another game in which the Las Tunas managed to decipher the opposing pitching with relative ease, at an Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium. In this game, as in previous ones, they again scored more than 10 runs (17) and connected on more than 15 hits (23).
After concluding the second round of the group stage, they faced the Florida Titans (third in Group A) in an elimination game and defeated them 11-6 to secure their place in the semifinals. Cuba again had to face the Americans and avenged their defeat in the Qualifying Round this Saturday. In this match, Kane County took the lead in the bottom of the first inning after scoring a run against Yadian Martínez’s pitches. An inning later, Rafael Viñales hit his first home run of the game to tie the score. During the bottom of the second, the Cougars added another run to regain the lead (2-1).
Las Tunas tied the game again in the top of the third inning and took a lead they would never relinquish in the game after scoring eight runs in the inning. Yoelkis Guibert drove in the tying run (2-2) with a single to center, and then Yosvani Alarcón hit his second home run of the tournament with two runners on base to make it 5-2. The remaining three RBIs in the inning came via hits from Yordanis Alarcón (2B), Andrys Pérez (H), and Roel Santos (H). Yadian Martínez allowed another three in the bottom of the third inning, but Las Tunas regained a seven-run lead (12-5) after also scoring three in the top of the fourth. In that inning, Rafael Viñales hit his fourth home run of the championship (second of the game).
Yordanis Alarcón drove in another with a triple, and Andrys Pérez hit a single. The right-hander from Mayabeque, Cuba pitched his only scoreless run in the bottom of the fourth, and Yosvani Alarcón drove in Las Tunas’ thirteenth with a single to left in the fifth. Kane County managed to cut four runs off the lead in the bottom of the fifth, making it 13-8. Yuniesky Larduet and Luis Vicente Mateo drove in the 14th and 15th runs, respectively, in the top of the sixth. Two innings later, Andrys Pérez hit a long home run to right to bring in the 16th, and the 17th was driven in by an infield hit by Mateo himself in the eighth inning.
Frank Luis Medina pitched an excellent 4.2 innings of relief and earned the win. He allowed three hits, allowed just one run on a home run by Brantley Bell in the eighth inning, walked one, and struck out five. Bell’s homer sealed the final score (17-10) in another high-scoring game. Luis Vicente Mateo, Rafael Viñales, and Andrys Pérez all had at least three hits in this contest. All of the Las Tunas regulars managed to get at least one hit, and Roel Santos, Yoelkis Guibert, Yordanis Alarcón, and Yosvani Alarcón also had multihits; the latter drove in four runs, reaching 13 in the tournament.
Lineup:
1.Roel Santos (CF): 4-2, R, RBI, BB, K, HBP (.474)
2.Luis Vicente Mateo (SS/2B): 6-4, R, 2RBI (.455)
3.Yoelkis Guibert (RF): 5-2, 2R, RBI, BB, K (.412)
4.Yosvani Alarcón (DH): 6-2, R, HR, 4RBI, K (.591)
5.Rafael Viñales (1B): 5-3, 3R, 2HR, 2RBI, E (.476)
PH: Denis Peña (1B): 1-0, K (.333)
6.Roberto Baldoquín (2B/3B): 5-1, 2R, K, HBP (.500)
7.Yordanis Alarcón (3B): 5-2, 2R, 2B, 3B, 2RBI, 2E (.474)
Tailon Sánchez (SS): 1-0 (.444)
8.Andrys Pérez (C): 4-4, 3R, HR, 3RBI, BB (.600)
9.Yuniesky Larduet (LF): 5-3, 2R, RBI (.438)
Pitching:
Yadian Martínez: 4.0 IP, 9H, 8ER, BB, 5K (10.13)
Dariel Góngora: 0.1 IP, 2H, ER (108.00)
Frank Luis Medina: 4.2 IP, 3H, ER, BB, 5K, W (1-1) (7.11)