With the Latinoamericano Stadium crowd against him, Yankiel Mauris stood as a wall today, leading Las Tunas to a 9-0 victory over Industriales and evening the IV Cuban Elite League final at one game each.

When the game was tense in the fourth inning with the score tied at zero and Andy Vargas imposing his dominance from the capital's mound, the reinforcement from Sancti Spíritus appeared, seized the silence, and cut the breath of the multitude.

For four innings, allowing no walks or runs, with four strikeouts and iron composure, Mauris turned every pitch into an act of resistance — as if the entire stadium weighed on his arm and still could not bend it.

"I ended very tired — lots of sun, six innings over two days, and many pitches — but I had to give my maximum," he confessed exclusively to Prensa Latina, still with sweat as evidence of a feat driven more by will than rest.

The right-hander knew destiny would fall on him, because Rodolfo Díaz's absence pushed him into the long-relief role. He accepted the mission and entered the fire without flinching, supported by a group that — he says — already feels like family.

While he tamed the Leones, the Leñadores waited for their moment like a wounded team, unable to decipher Vargas until the seventh inning, when they broke the spell with consecutive singles and Henry Quintero's roar — a two-run home run that split the afternoon in two.

After that outburst, the third-base stands fell silent and the conga ran out of air, because Abeicy Pantoja's team smelled blood and did not let go, extending the lead in the ninth with five runs crowned by José Amaury Noroña's homer.

Behind the lopsided scoreboard remained Mauris's invisible work: the man who held the balance when everything hung by a thread, the man who pitched tired because there was no other way out, the man who turned fatigue into victory.

"This will be a long series — six or seven games. There's nothing decided yet," he warned in a low voice, aware that the war is just beginning, as Las Tunas shook off their adverse streak in finals and rewrote their pulse in the heart of Cerro.