Matanzas Breaks Losing Streak
The Matanzas Crocodiles celebrated again in the IV Cuban Elite Baseball League by defeating the Holguín Cubs 7 runs to 3 at the Calixto García stadium, a result that put an end to a streak of consecutive losses for the Yumurino nine.
The locals took the lead from the second inning. Yasiel González opened the scoring with a home run over the fence, while Leonardo Montero scored Holguín’s second run after hitting a double and taking advantage of a defensive error by Luis Ángel Sánchez. During the first three innings, starter Wilson Paredes kept the Matanzas offense under control, managing only one hit.
The visitors’ reaction came in the fourth inning. Yulieski Remón opened the inning with a single, and José Amaury Noroña sent the ball out of the park to tie the game. Later, in the sixth inning, Andrys Pérez broke the tie with a home run off reliever Joel Tejada, putting the team led by Eduardo Cárdenas ahead.
José Carlos Quesada held the slim lead despite facing a complicated situation with three consecutive walks in the bottom of the sixth inning. However, Holguín found the equalizer in the seventh inning against reliever Luis Manuel Hernández, forcing the game to be decided in extra innings.
With the tiebreaker rule in effect, Matanzas definitively tipped the balance in the tenth inning. Yariel Duque hit a pinch-hit single with the bases loaded to drive in the go-ahead run, while Hanyelo Videt drove in two more with a triple that completed a four-run rally.
In the bottom of the tenth, Luis Manuel Hernández dominated the Holguín offense, retiring Lázaro Cedeño with a pop-up to the infield and inducing a double play on a hit by Yasiel González to secure a victory that restores confidence to the Crocodiles in the final stretch of the competition.
