To the beat of 15 hits, joined four by Melky Cabrera, the Águilas Cibaeñas, the Leones del Escogido won 11 rounds to nine. The victory secures him to the second position of the Dominican winter ball, for the BHD-León Cup, dedicated to Don José Manuel Fernández.
The Quisqueya-Juan Marichal Stadium was the scene of the meeting, the first of the triple day of the afternoon. The win puts the group eaglets on a record of 15-12.
Victory went to Darío Álvarez (W, 2-0) and Enny Romero (0-2) lost, who jumped off the mound in the first inning when the winners scored seven runs, with the eighth save for Neftalí Feliz.
This is how the teams acted
Melky Cabrera (LF) started for the Eagles; Ramón Torres (SS); Rangel Ravelo (1B); Isaías Tejeda (DH); Johan Cmargo (3B); Robel García (2B); Juan C. Pérez (CF); Francisco Peña (C); Arismendy Alcántara (RF).
Pitchers: Yunesky Maya, followed by Daury Torres, Darío Álvarez, Luis Castillo, Junior Fernández, Michael Ynoa and Neftalí Feliz.
Iván Castillo (2B) started with the Lions; Franchy Lamb (LF); Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3B); Aderlin Rodríguez (1B); Gregory Polanco (DH); Brett Sullivan (C); César Puello (RF) Jonathan Guzmán (SS).
Pitchers: Enny Romero, followed by David Paulino, Ramón García; Jonathan Cheshire, Edward Paredes, Víctor Capellán and Jumbo Díaz.
Party races
A poor defense by the Lions of the Chosen One saw the Eagles score seven runs in the same first inning, making the Reds jump off the opening mound Romero, after facing six batters and more than 25 pitches in a third of an inning, five runs, three earned.
The bad episode for the chosen one started when Estevan Florial didn’t get along well with an “easy” fly from Melky Cabrera that was double; an indecision by Vladimir Guerrero in a hit by Tejeda for “fielder’s choice”, Rangel Ravelo and a mistake by Guerrero himself.
Cabrera scored on Ravelo’s single; Torres was pulled by Camargo’s sacrificial fly; Ravelo for Garcia’s single; Tejada for single from Peña; García twice for Alcántara; Peña and Alcántara for the Cabrera single.
In the third, the harriers scored one more to increase the lead to 8-0, when Pérez led off the inning with a double, a single by Peña, which brought him to the anteroom from where he scored on a single by Alcántara.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, an error by Ramón Torres complicated the inning for the Eagles and pitcher Maya, as the Lions scored four unearned five runs, leaving the game without a win option.
In the episode they scored Florial, powered by Castillo’s single; Guzmán for single from Cordero; Castillo on a sacrifice fly by Guerrero Jr., and Rodríguez homerun with Cordero in circulation, to get closer to 8-5 on the scoreboard.
The Eagles added three touchdowns in the sixth to increase its 11-5 lead when they scored Ravelo, who scored on a pick; Camargo and García are towed by Francisco Peña’s double.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Lions scored four runs to get closer to 11-9. A homerun by Miguel Gómez with Puello in circulation accounted for the first two innings and Cordero and Castillo were driven in by Guerrero’s double.