Pinar del Rio is still breathing

When everyone thought they wouldn’t recover from their two initial defeats in the Latinoamericano Stadium to be able to clinch a spot in the finals, Pinar del Rio has taken a second air, and overcame the suffocating air of the Industriales headquarters. Summarizing: they fulfilled their goal to snatch a victory from the capital’s team in their own turf to get back home and try to do the manly sweeping on the grounds of the “San Luis” stadium in the remaining two games.

In a Latino crowded to the upper decks, the Blues could not go for the killing. Again Cienfuegos Noelvis Entenza was the starter, and for the second time in these semifinals, he had a horrendous opening. He asked the team management the ball, attempting to vindicate himself, but since he climbed to the mound his nerves were a total chaos and his pitches were getting to the plate too slowly

Entenza, who is part of the team as reinforcement, couldn’t go any further than the first inning, just as in his last outing. Now he accumulates only one third pitched in the playoffs. In that inning, Pinar del Rio attacked mercilessly leaving the audience watching dumbstruck how they scored five runs. The silence was almost complete, just broken by the occasional shriek of plastic horns played by hardcore fans to entertain and try to bring some courage back for their beloved blue team.

The best Cuban pitcher this season, Yosvani Torres, struggled in the second inning, where Industriales managed to score four times, thanks to his lack of control and superb performance at bat of right fielder Stayler Hernandez, who hit a 3-run double to the centerfield and later scored as well after a very aggressive base running. But, Torres recovered nicely from them on, and belted his second win in this playoff.

Meanwhile, Industriales pitching staff couldn’t help its team. One after the other succumbed to the merciless batting of the Pinar del Rio lineup. Cienfuegos reinforcement, Leorisbel Sanchez came too late, and despite his being able to hold down his opponents, his new team mates couldn’t overcome the initial lead of Pinar del Rio. They couldn’t hit against Torres, and his reliever, lefty Julio Martinez came in a gracious night with a good fastball and his best weapon: the curve ball

One setback in last night show was the argument over a foul hit by Industriales third baseman Yulieski Gourriel. Right fielder Roel Santos sprinted from far away, jumped hard against the side wall and caught the ball, but a man in the deck hit him in the arm and the ball fell. For over 40 minutes the game was in a halt while the umpires watched the video over and over to determine if Santos had actually caught the ball in fair zone, and there was interference by the fan. At the end, the umpires reversed their call and Gourriel was out, which brought a lot of arguments from the Industriales manager who finished the game under protest.