Elite Baseball League: Crocodiles do it again

There was no surprise and the best team in the 2nd edition of the Cuban Baseball Elite League won the title.

Matanzas led the tournament from top to bottom and added its second title with that name, after overpowering Artemisa in six games.

The Hunters took the field ready to do-or-die in the sixth game. A homerun hit by Denis Laza in the top of the first inning gave them the lead, but defense again fell apart and that lead quickly vanished.

Once again, starter Raymond Figueredo exited early in the game when he was performing well (1.2 Inn, 0 ER), and Yuniesky García took the mound after recovering from an injury. But he did not perform at his best version.

Thereafter, it was all misfortune for manager Yuliesky González. He gave the ball to Industriales’ pitcher Maikel Taylor, a quite surprising call if taken into consideration that he had not pitched in a game in Cuba in two seasons. If he had wanted a pitcher from the Blue team, he might have called either Frank Herrera or Juan Xavier Peñalver.

The game just got wide open in the sixth inning and the Crocodiles enjoyed an outstanding performance from the bullpen. Starter Renner Rivero was hit hard and Noelvis Entenza worked perfect in 3.1 Inn, and after allowing a walk, Frank Luis Medina came in and got the job done.

Artemisa’s offense let the fans down again in a packed Victoria de Giron stadium. While several errors were made by the two teams.

Our congratulations to manager Armando Ferrer and his team. He made the right substitutions in the lineup and moved the pitchers correctly, except in game 2, when I did not understand why he called his best reliever when down in the box score.

Honor to the Hunters. They were not the favorites and were hit by lots of injuries in the finals.

They could not count on Moinelo and Cepeda had to play injured until he could not do it anymore. Not to mention Figueredo’s injuries that prevent him from going the distance in two games.

A special recognition to Erly Casanova when he pitched the way he did and stopped the dangerous offense of the Crocodiles and of course, both teams’ fans. They behaved outstandingly.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff