1/10/17

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ROUND ROBIN Giants Whitewash Tigers 7 - 0

SANTO DOMINGO.- The Giants closed Tuesday night's fight for the final series by beating convincingly the Licey Tigers 7-0 in Quisqueya Park.

Garabez Rosa drove in three runs and Cam Perkins two as the Giants took care of starter Terry Doyle for a win that returns hopes of qualifying for the final series.

Rafael Perez (2.0), Jairo Labourt (0.2), Rhiner Cruz (0.1), Max Nelson (1) and Colt Hynes (1) limited Licey to three hits during six innings of relief work. Perez won (1-0) and Nik Turley (0-1) lost.

In the first, Leury Garcia and Maikel Franco singled, Perkins produced a run with a base hit to left. Franco was out at third. Moisés Sierra and Wilmer Difó walked to fill the bases which decreed the departure from the mound of Nik Turley in favor of Gabriel Arias and Rosa received him with a double that towed three runs.

The Giants scored again in the second when they combined hits by Marte and Perkins.

Moses Sierra hit a solo homer in the sixth to increase the lead 6-0. The seventh run came in the eighth when Sierra hit to center, advanced on Difó's fly ball and scored on Rosa's shot to the shortstop.

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Lions stop Eagles streak at 9 beating them 5 - 2

SANTIAGO.- End of the curse. The Lions of Escogido stopped their losin streak and also the winning streakof the Eagles Cibaeñas to beat them last night 5-2, in a game disputed in Cibao Stadium.

The Lions (4-8) had lost five in a row and are a game and a half out of second place behind the Licey Tigers. They still have six games left in the semifinal. The Eagles (9-2) remain comfortably at the top of the standings.

Escogido received a great job from Irwin Delgado (1-0), who threw six innings of two hits and a run, came from Mexico about three days ago. Contrary to that, Angel Castro (1-1) withstood only 2.1 innings. The game was saved by Héctor Neris (1).

In the beginning of the second inning, Tommy Pham singled, Chesny Young followed with another base hit. Jimmy Paredes doubled, Tommy Pham scored and Chesny Young advanced to 3rd. Chesny Young scored when Taylor Davis grounded out to first JimmyParedes to 3rd. Erik Gonzalez singled driving in Jimmy Paredes.

Two more runs scored in the third. Eury Perez reached base on a fielding error by pitcher Angel Castro. Jorge Polanco singled Eury Perez to 2nd. Tommy Pham flied out to center as Eury Perez advanced to 3rd. Chesny Young singled. Eury Perez scored as Jorge Polanco advanced to 2nd. Jimmy Paredes doubled (3) as Jorge Polanco scored the second run of the inning.

The first hit by the Eagles came in the fourth and also their first run. Juan Carlos Pérez fired a triple to left and scored on Héctor Luna's base hit. That was all the punishment against Delgado.

In the seventh, the Eagles scored another run off of Daniel Corcino who entered in relief of Delgado. Luna walked and advanced to second on a "passed ball", then scored on Orlando Calixte's base hit.

Enny Romero replaced Corcino and dominated Francisco Peña on three strikes. Danny Santana grounded out to second and Luis González did the same.

In the eighth, the Eagles filled the bases with just one out, but Hector Luna and pinch hitter Ángel Franco were struck out by reliever Héctor Neris, who entered for Enny Romero.

1/10/17

PUERTO RICAN PLAYOFFS Game 1: Carolina 1, Santurce 2
Game 2: Santurce 3, Carolina 6
Game 3: Carolina 0, Santurce 11
Game 4: Santurce 2, Carolina 0
Game 5: Carolina 1, Santurce 2
Cangrejeros de Santurce win series 4-1

Game 1: Caguas 3, Mayaguez 4
Game 2: Mayaguez 5, Caguas 1
Game 3: Caguas 5, Mayaguez 4
Game 4: Mayaguez 1, Caguas 2
Series tied 2-2
Game 5: 01/10 7:15 p.m.
Game 6: 01/11 7:15 p.m.
Game 7: 01/12 7:15 p.m.
Santurce advances to the Final Series of baseball for the third consecutive year

The Cangrejeros eliminated Carolina in five semifinal games

With a two-run home run by Ivan de Jesús, Jr., and another outstanding performance by their pitcher, the Santurce Crabbers sealed Tuesday night their ticket to the Final Series for the third consecutive season with the mission to reach The 'three peat'.

The Cangrejeros beat the Carolina Giants 2-1 in the fifth game of semifinals to dominate 4-1 the series at Hiram Bithorn Stadium and wait for the winner of the other semi-final between Caguas and Mayaguez.

Santurce's pitching again was spectacular with just one run and five hits in the game. In the last 30 innings of the series, Santurce hardly allowed a run. In the night six pitchers combined to secure the pass to the final. The Cangrejeros have conquered the last two titles, both over the Indians of Mayaguez.

Santurce scored their only two runs in the third inning against starter Mario Santiago to take advantage on the board. With one out, Robert Peña received a free ticket and then De Jesus homered to left field to produce the first runs of the night.

The Cangrejeros pitching silenced the Giants' offense during the first five innings to extend the innings streak without allowing a score to 26. Santurce had been whitewashing Carolina in the last two games. Carolina stopped the streak in the fifth inning against reliever Andrés Santiago.

Ozzie Martinez opened the inning with a double and advanced to second. Then Enrique 'Kike' Hernandez fired a single and scored Martinez to give a moment of joy to his teammates in the 'dugout'. Left-hander Nelvin Fuentes and right-hander Joseph Colón were in charge of closing the inning without major consequences.

Luis Santos threw the seventh and eighth inning without allowing a run, and Fernando Cabrera scored the save by completing the ninth.

Mario Santiago was charged with the loss by conceding two runs in 5.2 innings. Only conceded four hits on the night night.

The Cangrejeros, meanwhile, opened with the imported Frank Del Valle instead of the injured Reinier Roibal, who will not pitch for the remainder of the postseason, the team confirmed. Roibal has an ailment in his right shoulder. Del Valle met the expectations of the manager Ramon Vazquez to complete 3.2 entries at zero runs. Only allowed a hit. He was relieved by Santiago.

Santurce, in turn, reported that the league approved the selection of two players in the special draw of the final series.

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Creoles tied the series dramatically

A free ticket to Reynaldo Navarro, with bases filled in the bottom of the twelfth inning and two out, gave last night to the Creole of Caguas the victory 2-1 over the Indians of Mayagüez, tying the Semifinal Series at two wins each.

After a duel between pitchers Andrew Barbosa and Orlando Román, it was the Creoles (2-2), that were the first to score, when at the top of the sixth, Jorge Padilla opened with hit to left. Omar Garcia sacrificed to advance Padilla to second while Navarro received an intentional walk. Rusney Castillo forced Padilla at third and again Randy Ruiz connected for a hit to drive in Navarro.

The seventh was lucky for the Indians (2-2), tying the game. Welington Dotel hit a double off of reliever Jake Newberry. Kennys Vargas singled through the box, moving Welington's to second, from where he scored on a single by Henry Ramos, which virtually led the game to extra innings.

It was the twelfth inning, the decisive one of the encounter. In front of a new pitcher, Iván Maldonado, Jan Vázquez singled after one out. Jack Lopez doubled to place runners in scoring positions. Maldonado gave an intentional walk to score Padilla. Rico Noel flied out on the infield for the second out. It was then that Navarro worked a walk to leave the Mayagüezanos on the field. The Creoles, who had lost the first two games of the series, got their second win in a row to tie it.

Justin Wright (1-0) got the victory in relief, while Maldonado (0-1) suffered the setback.

1/10/17

CUBAN PLAYOFFS 56SNB: Crocodiles beat Alazanes and even Play Off

In a welcome encounter and with the good offensive that characterized them during the qualifying stages, the Matanzas Crocodiles achieved a major victory 9 - 3 over the Granma Alazanes on Tuesday.

With this win, the Crocodiles equaled two wins and two losses with Granma in the semifinal Play Off of the 56th National Series of Baseball.

For Matanzas, they opened the game, as planned against right-handed pitcher Lázaro Blanco, who was punished in the first inning gave up three runs on a single by Stayler Hernandez, forced out of Ariel Sánchez, and then Yordanis Samon connected for a base hit and the bases were filled on a walk to William Saavedra. Gracial struckout. With two out, Y. Torriente singled and Samon and Sanchez scored. J. Delgado followed with another base hit bringing home Saavedra with the third run of the inning making the score 3-0 in favor of Matanzas.

Granma managed to score a run in the third inning off of crocodile starter Danny Betancourt influenced by a Gracial error. They added another two in the fifth to tie the game, both against reliever Frank Luis Medina.

He was replaced by lefty pitcher Liván Moinelo, who retired the 12 batters he faced, six via the strikes.

The Crocodiles broke the tie in the sixth inning on a walk to Gracial and Jefferson's double. They extended the score in the seventh scoring four more runs, and finished the scoring in the eighth with one last run.

Of the nine innings, seven went to Lázaro Blanco's allowed three runs, eight hits, three strikeouts and an equal number of walks, one intentional.

Leading the offense was Industrialist's reinforcement Stayler Hernandez (3-4) and Juan C. Torriente (3-5) with three runs batted in, the same amount as Jefferson (4-5). The win went to Liván Moinelo (13-9) and the loss to Lazaro Blanco (15-4).

The win insures that the Matanzas team will return home for a sixth and seventh game if necessary.

How has Joe Colon done this winter? I was amazed that he made it to the majors and was marginally useful.

Civ!
Colon has appeared in 3 games, has 2 holds, for a total of 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout.
He was activated for the playoffs. He had no regular season appearances. I think he's only faced 4 hitters. Strictly been used as a situational righty.

1/11/17

VENEZUELAN PLAYOFFS

LaGuaira and Aragua will fight for the last spot
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CARACAS

The current format of the Venezuelan playoffs gives a new opportunity to the losers in their series. After defining the three teams that qualified in the first post-season round, Zulia, Anzoantegui, and Lara, the fourth team to qualify is missing.

This season, of the three teams that were eliminated, the two teams that finished with the higher position during the regular season, will dispute a wild card game that will allow the winner to advance into the semifinals. Therefore, the Tigres de Aragua (fourth in the regular league standings) and the Tiburones de La Guaira (fifth) will play this Wednesday in search of winning the last ticket.

Edgmer Escalona and Misael Silverio will be the starters for the Sharks and Tigers, respectively, in a duel that will be played at José Pérez Colmenares de Maracay.

1/11/17

PUERTO RICAN PLAYOFFS Game 1: Caguas 3, Mayaguez 4
Game 2: Mayaguez 5, Caguas 1
Game 3: Caguas 5, Mayaguez 4
Game 4: Mayaguez 1, Caguas 2
Game 5: Caguas 2, Mayaguez 1
Game 6: Caguas 1, Mayaguez 0
Criollos de Caguas wins series
Game 7: 01/12 7:15 p.m.
Creoles return to winter baseball final

Caguas will face the Cangrejeros de Santurce in a duel of finalists that has not been seen since the seventies.

Ruben Gotay scored the only run of the game in the fourth inning for the Caguas Criollos to complete the semi-final comeback with a 1-0 victory over the Mayaguez Indians.

Caguas returns to the championship series for the first time since 2014 and will have their final series against Santurce for the first time since the 1970-71 season.

Santurce, meanwhile, will seek its third consecutive championship.

The pitcher John Brownell scored the win after throwing seven innings where he only allowed three hits and struck out four.

Hiram Burgos suffered the defeat for Mayaguez.

1/11/17

VENEZUELAN WILD CARD GAME José Castillo drove the run home that served to break the tie in the ninth

La Guaira Qualifies in Wild Card win over Aragua

Los Tiburones de La Guaira comes closer to the possibility of ending their championship drought as they dispatched the defending champions Tigres de Aragua 4 - 2.

With the win, the players of Ozzie Guillen snapped their losing streak at four in which they lost their series against the Caribes de Anzoategui and will face the Cardinals of Lara in the semifinals.

Tiburones took the lead in the third inning on a double by Henry Rodriguez who batted in Alonzo Harris with the first Aragua run off the pitches of starter Misael Siverio .

La Guaira added a run in the fourth inning. Alberto González batted in Alcides Escobar and thus extended their lead 2 - 0.

However, the Bengalis were not through and in the seventh inning tied the game at 2 - 2 on a single by Hernán Pérez driving home Ramon Flores and a grounder by Endy Chavez allowed Carlos Peñalver to score.

La Guaira retook command of the game with an ambush in the ninth against Ronald Belisario. Heiker Meneses reached on a throwing error by shortstop Carlos Penalver. With two out and Jose Castillo batting, Heiker Meneses steals (1) 2nd base. Jose Castillo single home Heiker Meneses to break the tie and took the lead 3 - 2. Pinch-runner Danry Vasquez replaced Jose Castillo. With Hector Sanchez batting, Danry Vasquez steals (3) 2nd base. Ronald Belisario intentionally walked Hector Sanchez. With Jose Gil batting, a wild pitch by Ronald Belisario advanced Danry Vasquez to 3rd and Hector Sanchez to 2nd.
With Jose Gil batting, another wild pitch by Ronald Belisario allowed Danry Vasquez to score for a 4 - 2 lead. Jose Gil flied out to right fielder Yadir Drake to end the rally.

The victory went to Jonathan Albaladejo (1-1) while Belisario (0-1) was charged with the loss.

1/11/17

CUBAN PLAYOFFS <
Torriente Was A Torrent

Matanzas closer to finals

Havana.-

Stayler Hernandez today inaugurated the ordeal of the Granma team as Matanzas defeated Granma 13 - 3 to take a 3 - games supremacy and approached the finals of the National Baseball Series LVI.

In the important game, especially for the hosts, the leadoff hitter for the visiting Matanzas team, Roel Santos, belted a home run to right field off of starter Yoalkis Cruz, who lived the painful moments of the first. Matanzas ended up scoring three more time in the first to take a 4-0 lead.

Santos, the reinforcement from Las Tunas, could only record one out in the inning.

The other cluster of runs came in the fifth against relief pitcher Yanier González when William Saavedra doubled, Roberto Acea walked and Juan Carlos Torriente (3-4, 2 R, 4 RBI)) doubled for a pair of runs and a 7 - 1 lead.

Matanzas scored twice in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to seal the 13 - 3 win.

The offense featured Torriente with a trio of hits in four times to bat, a double, two runs scored and another four runs batted in.

Winning pitcher was Frank Luis Medina, who took the mound for five innings to dispel four hits and admit two walks in front of 20 hitters.

For the losers, Alfredo Despaigne excelled with his 256th homer and two runs batted in.

Liván Moinelo closed facing five hitters, who, added to the 12 of the previous day set 17 batters down consecutively.

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Ciego de Ávila one game away from third consecutive Title.

Havana.-

Ciego de Avila convincingly defeated Villa Clara 9-3 to become the first to qualify for the finals of the National Baseball Series LVI.

The Tigers scored eight runs in the first four innings to give calm and opportunity to the winners. Pinar del Río's Bladimir Baños was the Matanzas winning pitcher.

In the second inning the Avilanians sent the veteran Yosvani Torres to the showers.

The four run cluster in the fourth inning destabilized the battered Villa Clara pitchers with 14 hits, including Julio Pablo Martinez's solo homer in the sixth against fellow left-hander Robelio Carrillo, the best of the defeated relief pitchers.

Raidel Martinez withstood several rallies by Villa Clara to score the save while the offensive leaders for Matanzas were Edilse and Yoelvis Fiss.

It was the sixth and last game between these two teams.

1/11/17

DOMINICAN LEAGUE ROUND ROBIN 2B: Gonzalez, E (4, Rodriguez, B).
3B: Gonzalez, E (1, Familia). The Tigers bleached again, this time by the Eagles 6 - 0

SANTO DOMINGO-

The Eagles Cibao (10-2) regained form again. And they did it last night at Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, where they blew the Tigres del Licey away 6-0 in a game in which they made their runs after two outs.

The victory ensures a tie with Escogido, who struggles to leave last place.

Chris O'Grady (2-0) pitched five full innings in which he survived twice a basses loaded jam and one out, but he was brave enough to score zeros against Tigers who were bleached for the second consecutive night. Orlando Calixte and Danny Santana batted in two runs. On Tuesday, Licey fell 7-0 to the Giants of the Cibao, also in the Quisqueya. O'Grady was relieved by Edgar Garcia, Richard Rodriguez and Josh Judy to complete the bleaching of the Licey.

The situation is complicated for the Tigers, who were seen falling before thousands of their followers, while the fanatics of their rivals tasted the sweetness of beating their arch enemies.

The Tigers' opening pitcher left the game in the second inning with his hands on his head. The previous night it was Nik Turley, who lasted only 0.2 innings against the Giants and last night, Iván Piñeyro (0-1), who went 3.2 innings and gave up three runs, although he was victim of a costly error by Anderson Hernandez, survived the first inning. Francisco Rosario came on in relief of Piñeyro and allowed another two runs.

The Eagles, who lost on Tuesday, regained the same victorious pace they maintained for nine consecutive games, keeping them the absolute leaders in the standings and the first team to reach ten wins in the semifinal round.

O'Grady survived the first inning, but managed the situation with the bases loaded to leave without any damage. In the third he had runners in second and first and two outs, but again he managed to keep his five innings without giving up any runs. In the fifth, O'Grady was in trouble again, after having the bases filled, with an out, he dominated successively Jason Rogers and Donovan Solano both flying out to center.

The Eagles attack in the first inning came after two outs. Juan Carlos Pérez fired single to right and reached third on another hit by Zoilo Almonte. Brayan Peña reached on an an error which allowed Perez and Orlando Calixte to score.

The Eagles scored two more runs in the fifth inning, also after two outs. Danny Santana tripled with two runners on base.

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Lions win 4-for-2 tied with Giants for third place

SAN FCO DE M.-

The Lions of Escogido defeated 4-2 the Giants of the Cibao closing the fight for classification.

With their win the Lions placed their record in 5-8 while Los Gigantes put their record at 4-7.

The winning pitcher for the tight match was reliever Graig Stern, Bryan Rodriguez lost while the veteran Fernando Rodney won the save.

The Giants scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Maikel Franco singled, Jason Krizan walked, Moises Sierra struck out, Aneury Tavárez received another walk filling the bases, Garabez Rosa grounded out 6-4 scoring Franco and Anderson de la Rosa's sacrifice fly brought Krizan home.

In the beginning of the fifth inning the Lions scored a run after one out, Erik Gonzalez connected for a double to the central and scored on a base hit to right by Charlie Valerio.

In the sixth inning, Jorge Polanco walked, Ronny Paulino singled, Tommy Pham walked to load the bases. Jimmy Paredes singled, Jorge Polanco scored and the bases remained full. Chesny Young hit by pitch. Ronny Paulino scored.

In the seventh inning, the Lions scored on a solo homer by Eury Perez.

The best batters for the Lions were Eury Perez a homer, Erik Gonzalez triple and double, and Ronny Paulino, Jimmy Paredes and Charlie Valerio a hit each.

For the Giants the best ones with the wood were Leury Garci'a two singles, and Maikel Franco, Moises Sierra and Anderson de la Rosa a single each.

1/11/17

MEXICAN SEMI FINALS Game 1: Culiacan 0, Los Mochis 5
Caneros de los Mochis lead series 1-0
Game 2: 01/12 7:30 p.m.
Game 3: 01/14 6:00 p.m.
Game 4: 01/15 5:00 p.m.
Game 5: 01/16 7:30 p.m.
Game 6: 01/18 7:30 p.m.
Game 7: 01/19 7:30 p.m.

Game 1: Hermosillo 7, Mexicali 8
Aguilas de Mexicali lead series 1-0
Game 2: 01/12 7:30 p.m.
Game 3: 01/14 6:00 p.m.
Game 4: 01/15 5:00 p.m.
Game 5: 01/16 7:30 p.m.
Game 6: 01/18 7:30 p.m.
Game 7: 01/19 7:30 p.m.

Barreda, Caneros blank Culiacan, 5-0, in semifinal opener; huge comeback propels Mexicali win

Manny Barreda gave up two singles and struck out ten Culiacan batters over eight innings to lead Los Mochis to a 5-0 shutout at home over the Tomateros Wednesday night in the opener of their Mexican Pacific League semifinal series. In the other MexPac semi, the Mexicali Aguilas overcame a late 7-2 deficit with a six-run eighth inning in pulling off a come-from-behind 8-7 win at home over Hermosillo.
LOS MOCHIS 5-9-0, Culiacan 0-3-1

The Caneros' Manny Barreda gave up singles to Ali Solis in the third inning and Maxwell Leon in the sixth while retiring the side in order five times during his eight-frame stint. He needed to be sharp early on as Barreda and Culiacan starter Patrick McCoy both tossed nothing but zeros until the bottom of the fourth, when Isaac Rodriguez put Los Mochis on the board by whacking a leadoff double, moving to third on a Lew Ford groundout to first and scoring on Leandro Castro's sacrifice fly to right.

Mochis added to their 1-0 lead with three more in the bottom of the sixth, chasing McCoy in the process. Saul Soto sliced a single up the middle off Victor Marte to plate both Ford and J.C. Linares and make it a 3-0 score. Ex-MLB hurler Dennis Reyes relieved Marte, but immediately gave up a single to Yosmany Guerra that brought Castro in from third along with an early exit for Reyes. Castro then put an exclamation point on the procedings by homering to left center off Hector Navarro in the eighth to conclude the scoring in the Caneros' 5-0 triumph.

Castro ended up going 3-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs and a homer while Soto picked up a pair of hits. An overflow crowd of 11,110 at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada in Los Mochis watched a masterful pitching performance as neither Barreda nor reliever Santiago Gutierrez allowed a Tomateros baserunner to reach second base all night. The Caneros are seeking their first MexPac pennant since 2002-03 while Culiacan copped their last flag two winters ago.
MEXICALI 8-15-1, Hermosillo 7-13-2

Unlike the Los Mochis-Culiacan game, pitching had little to do with this one as the two combatants combined for 15 runs on 28 hits at Mexicali's Estadio B'Air in front of 14,232 spectators.

Jason Bourgeois led off the game with a double for the Naranjeros and later scored from third when Mexicali shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt misplayed O'Koyea Dickson's grounder to put the visitors up early. C.J. Retherford came in on a Agustin Murillo sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second to tie it up, but Jorge Flores' line single to left in the fourth drove in Jose Amador and Tim Torres to put the Orangemen back on top, 3-1. The Aguilas got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when Chris Roberson scored on Retherford's sacrifice fly to center, but the Naranjeros padded their lead with two more runs in both the seventh and eighth frames (the latter featuring a two-run homer from Dustin Martin) to make it a 7-2 Hermosillo lead with six Eagles outs needed to nail down the win.

Instead, Mexicali roared back with six runs in the bottom of the eighth to take their first lead of the night. Luis Suarez cracked a three-run homer off Nathanael Santiago to start the scoring binge and Betancourt's two-out single to right brought in Missael German with the go-ahead tally. The ex-MLB shortstop singled twice in the eighth as eleven batsmen came to the plate for the home team. It was then left to Aguilas closer Jake Sanchez, who has allowed one earned run all season, to pick up his fourth postseason save. It took a double-play comebacker to the mound to end the game, but Sanchez got the save in a most improbable Mexicali win.

Seven Mexicali players had two hits each in the Aguilas' 15-hit attack, but Juarez' homer was the only extra-base knock of the game. Bourgeois and 5'5" shortstop Luis Flores each had three of Hermosillo's 13 safeties. Edgar Gomez recorded one out in the top of the eighth to get credit for the Mexicali win while Heriberto Ruelas gave up Betancourt's late RBI single to take the loss for the Naranjeros.

1/11/17

Former Tribe farmhand Josh Judy setting up chance to get back into affiliated ball

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE

Ronny Rodriguez (1B, Aguilas Cibaenas): 0-for-5, K. Even with an 0-for-5 showing at the plate, Rodriguez is still hitting a strong .314 in 12 postseason games - which goes to show how hot he was in the first 11 games. The most impressive thing about his play in the 56 games he has played between the regular season and postseason in the DWL is that 20 of his 65 hits have gone for extra bases. That ability to pile up extra base hits was always what made him so intriguing as a prospect, so it is good to see it return.

Josh Judy (RP, Aguilas Cibaenas): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K. Judy is now unscored upon in all 29 appearances in the DWL this season - 22 in the regular season and now 7 in the postseason. The former Indians farmhand has an amazing 21 saves in those 29 appearances and in his 28.2 shutout innings he has allowed just 15 hits and 5 walks while racking up 23 strikeouts. He's pitched independent ball the last two years and been out of affiliated ball, but I wonder if this showing will create some interest for a team to sign him as a minor league free agent (ahem, the Indians?).

Erik Gonzalez (SS, Leones del Escogido): 2-for-4, R, 2B, 3B, K. Gonzalez has been solid this offseason in winter ball hitting .273 with a .771 OPS in 21 regular season games and now .265 with a .682 OPS in 12 postseason games. The patience continues to be an issue he is working on as he has just 8 walks in 136 total plate appearances this offseason (5.9 BB%), though that number is up from the 4.1 BB% he had last season at Triple-A Columbus.

1/11/17

BACK TO THE FINALS

There was no surprise or coincidence. Before a stadium José Ramón Cepero a packed house from end to end by an overflowing crowd of enthusiasm, the Tigers of Ciego de Avila was not given respite to Villa Clara to get the fourth win of the playoffs and reach for the third consecutive time the final for the title, now in the 56 National Baseball Series . The score was nine to three.

From the opening inning, when Reinier Gálvez homered against Yosvani Torres, the Avilanians scored runs in the first four innings, taking Torres out of the box as well as Yaifredo Domínguez and veteran Santiago Alberto Bisset. An incessant attack of 14 hits led by Edilse Silva, 3 of 4 and two runs batted in, Yoelvis Fiss, 2 of 4 and two others scored and Gálvez, 2 for 5 and a pair of races scored.

Ciego de Avila will look for their fourth title. They won for the first time in Serie National 51 and then repeated in the Serie National 54 and last year. In addition they were finalist in the Serie National 50, falling to Pinar del Río, and third place in Serie National 48.

Erik Gonzalez (SS, Leones del Escogido): 2-for-4, R, 2B, 3B, K. Gonzalez has been solid this offseason in winter ball hitting .273 with a .771 OPS in 21 regular season games and now .265 with a .682 OPS in 12 postseason games. The patience continues to be an issue he is working on as he has just 8 walks in 136 total plate appearances this offseason (5.9 BB%), though that number is up from the 4.1 BB% he had last season at Triple-A Columbus.

Solid? How about: OK. He and Diaz and Martinez will compete for the last roster spot.

Civ! Eric's been doing well considering that the league has been dominated by the pitching. Ronny Rodriquez won the batting title. It was the lowest in Dominican winter ball history. Rodriquez won with a .306 batting average. Ronny was hitting .378 for the playoffs but the average dipped to .314 due to a three game lapse with no hits.