Dominican League: (LIDOM)

Rob Refsnyder (DH, Gigantes del Cibao) 2-3, R, BB, SO, SB. Refsnyder stayed blistering hot as he now has a hit in all five games he played in the Dominican. He has recorded his stats in sets of, "threes" so far as he has three multiple hit games, doubles, and RBIs. He will look to carry this momentum over to spring training as he competes for a roster spot with the Tribe.

Louis Head (RP, Gigantes del Cibao) 1.0 IP, H, 0 ER. Head remains dialed in on the mound as he nailed down his fifth hold. He has been a key cog in the back end of the bullpen for Gigantes having not allowed a run in five straight appearances. He still has an ugly 6.75 ERA due to a pair of awful outings early in the season.

Carlos Frias (RP, Gigantes del Cibao) 0.1, 0 ER, SO. Frias struck out the lone batter he faced Tuesday night. He has an outstanding 0.66 ERA in 13.2 innings this offseason. Carlos pitched last season with the Clippers, but he currently is a free agent.

Erik Gonzalez (SS, Leones del Escogido) 0-4. Gonzalez's slump continues as he now has just one hit in his last 13 at-bats. His average has dipped to .223 including an underwhelming .179 average in his last ten games.

OF INTEREST

Gigantes: Rob Refsnyder who lost a couple of games due to discomfort in a wrist returned to action...

Leones: Cleveland left-handed closer Anderson Polanco the team "had a poor job with the club" ..

Stars: Francisco Mejía was absent from the lineup for the second game in a row.

Gonzalez busts out of slump

DOMINICAN LEAGUE (LIDOM)

Erik Gonzalez (Leones del Escogido, SS) - 4-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI - The Indians' utility player had his best game of the Winter league so far. After recording only one hit in his previous four games he was able to bust out of his slump and tear it up at the plate.

Rob Refsnyder (Gigantes del Cibao, LF) - 2-4, 1 R - The utility player is also continuing his early season tear in the Dominican League. After picking up two more hits on Wednesday he is now batting a robust .417 in six games thus far.

Louis Head (Gigantes del Cibao, RP) - 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB - Head continues to rebound from his slow start to the winter season as racked up another hold. He allowed a hit in his only inning of work but that lone hit did not come around and score as he held the opposing team to nothing else.

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE (LVBP)

Jesus Aguilar (Leones del Caracas, 1B) - 1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB - The slugger had himself a day on Wednesday. He picked up only one hit but that lone hit traveled out of the ball park for his fifth home run of the season. He also continued to show off his eye at the plate by getting three free trips to first base.

OF INTEREST

Eagles: The athleticism of Ronny Rodríguez was revealed again when last night was used in the right field and there made a saving catch on a line drive in the first game ...

Estrellas and the Toros are out of the playoffs; Aguilas, Leones, Tigres, and Gigantes are in.

DOMINICAN LEAGUE (LIDOM)

Rob Refsnyder (Gigantes del Cibao, LF) - 0-3, 1 BB - Refsnyder finished the LIDOM regular season with his season-opening eight-game on-base streak in tact, but saw his hitting streak end at seven games after going hitless in the Gigantes' season finale. He ends the regular season with a .370/.433/.481 slash line with three RBI in eight games.

Lisalverto Bonilla (Estrellas Orientales, SP) - ND, 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R (earned), 4 BB, 3 K, 1 WP - Bonilla continued his struggles as a starter, finishing the regular season with four or more hits allowed in each of his four starts (he began the season with eight relief outings). He also continued to struggle with his command as he finished the LIDOM campaign with three multi-walk efforts. He finished the regular season with a 3.08 ERA, 18:14 K:BB ratio, and .306 opponents' batting average. The continuance of Bonilla's winter league league season will depend on him being picked up as a refuerzo (reinforcement) since the Estrellas missed the LIDOM postseason. Given his performance in the regular season, this seems unlikely.

Erik Gonzalez (Leones del Escogido, SS) - 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K - Gonzalez finished his regular season with a pair of multi-hit games, which will hopefully represent the beginning of a hot streak that will continue into the LIDOM postseason and give him momentum going into spring training in Goodyear. Gonzalez posted a .262/.291/.291 slash line in 27 games, slipping slightly to .250/.262/.300 in his last ten games of the regular season.

Henry Martinez (Leones del Escogido, RP) - H (4), 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K - Martinez finished his regular season with his seventh scoreless outing in his last ten. While he shut out opposing hitters in the majority of his last ten appearances, his other three outings (two three-run efforts and a two-hit, one-run outing that saw him fail to get a single hitter out) were ugly enough to give him a 7.27 ERA in those ten games. The first round of the LIDOM playoffs is a round robin (essentially a second regular season), so the effects of the "famine" half of his feast-or-famine tendencies will not be as pronounced as they would be in an American-style playoff system.

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE (LVBP)

Jorma Rodriguez (Tiburones de La Guaira, 3B) - 0-4, 3 K - Jorma-Rod continues to struggle in his limited playing time, two facts which are likely connected. He is batting only .148/.207/.185 in his last ten games, only six of which have been of the multi-at-bat variety. Hopefully, this rough winter campaign won't have a negative effect on the infielder's confidence when he reports to Goodyear for spring training.

he Criollos de Caguas go out to defend their national title and the Caribbean Series.

The winter league makes several adjustments to its game itinerary

The season will now begin on January 5 and will consist of 18 games per team

Seeking to alleviate part of the burden on the players, the Professional Baseball League Roberto Clemente decided to make a series of adjustments to their itinerary ahead of his abbreviated winter schedule.

The regular season will start on Friday January 5, one day after what was originally established with a double header at the Isidoro García de Mayagüez stadium where the four teams will take part.

The Cangrejeros de Santurce and the Gigantes de Carolina will meet at three o'clock in the afternoon, while at 7:30 in the night the Criollos de Caguas and the Mayagüez Indians clash.

The next day (Saturday - Kings Day), the four teams will face each other at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Carolina and Mayagüez will meet at eleven o'clock in the morning, while at three o'clock in the afternoon it will be Santurce and Caguas.

Carlos Berroa, tournament director, also said on Sunday will be the first two double headers of the season. Santurce and Caguas will clash for two games at the Evaristo Roldán de Gurabo stadium. The Giants and Indians will play two games in Mayagüez.

On Sundays the games will be played to seven innings.

Berroa said in turn that the itinerary will no longer consist of 21 games per team but that of 18.

"The changes were made for several reasons. But the primary reason is to alleviate the burden on the players. Because if you remember in the first itinerary that was submitted there were double games 'back to back' to meet the 21 games. That created a lot of burden in particular the pitchers, "said Berroa.

In addition to the itinerary will consist of 18 games per team, it was announced that they will be played from Wednesday to Sunday.

The semifinal series will consist of a game of 'sudden death' between the teams that arrive second and third. Whoever arrives first will go directly to the final series.

The final will be a maximum of five games.

Puerto Rico will go to the Caribbean Series to defend the crown they won in 2017 with the Criollos.

Matanzas blanks 7-0 at Las Tunas and assumes leadership of the SNB57.

The outstanding performance by Roy Hernandez (8-4), with four singles, five strikeouts and three walks in eight innings, backed Matanzas' win blanking 7-0 Las Tunas , to snatch first place in the Cuban baseball championship .

Reliever Armando Dueñas finished the winning task for the Crocodiles, who already had a 6 holds on the season.

The center fielder, Eduardo Blanco, had a perfect afternoon of 4-4, with an equal number of RBIs and a double.

Yariel Rodriguez (9-4), Camagueyan reinforcement for Las Tunas, received punishment of four earned runs and six hits, in addition to giving up six walks in 4.1 innings, and was charged with

the loss.

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Granma, champion of the last campaign, certified their inclusion in the postseason by knocking out 14-0 Pinar del Río, a result that mutilated the minimum hopes of the Vegueros of accessing the semifinals.

Granma overwhelmed Pinar del Río with an attack of 16 hits, in which Roel Santos, Raico Santos and Yoelkis Céspedes contributed three hits each, with three rbi for the Santos cousins ​​and two rbi for Cespedes.

Such offensive support facilitated the work of right-hander Lázaro Blanco (7-3), the best Cuban pitcher of the previous season, who covered the route to the rhythm of four singles and six strike outs.

The Eastern team put the game away with a bunch of five runs in the top of the third inning, when their hitters combined four hits and a pair of doubles against the Camaguey reinforcement Yosimar Cousin (3-5), who exploded in that same inning.

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Industriales won 7-2 against last place Artemisa, a result with which they notched their fifth straight win, at the same time theye settled down in the comfort of third place.

Another Camaguey reinforcement, Jose R. Rodriguez (7-6), led the triumph for the Blues with seven innings of work as the starter, an equal number of hits and one earned run, while Ricardo Martinez (5-8), starter of the Hunters could not complete the fourth inning and went to the showers with five earned runs given up and seven hits.

Javier Camero, Frank Camilo Morejón and Jorge Luis Barcelán slugged home runs in the middle of the attack for Havana.

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LOOKING TO THE PLAYOFFS:

With ten games left in the second phase, Yes, you can affirm it: Las Tunas (52-27) reached their first postseason classification in the age of reinforcements! In addition, it will be their fourth appearance in the playoffs during their 40 year history and only three wins away from implementing a new record to surpass the 54 wins of 2012.

On the other hand, Matanzas (51-28) will also be in the postseason January 2018, being the only team that has consecutively qualified since 2012.

Next are the Alamas de Granma, current national champions, who are notch away from qualifying and with the chance to defend their crown.

The Industriales are going to return to the postseason by virtue of their 4-0 sweep against Ciego de Ávila.

Is there still a chance that Pinar del Rio can enter the playoffs? Well of course! Although at this point the chances are minimal, especially when qualifying would depend on them winning a good percentage of their last 10 games.

However, that we will know this week ...

Jorma-Rod's Big Night

Venezuelan League: (LVBP)

Jorma Rodriguez (3B, Tiburones de La Guaira) 3-4, 2 R, 2B, 3B, RBI, SO. Rodriguez had a big night at the dish Friday coming up just a home run short of the cycle. Jorma had struggled recently connecting for just two hits in his last 22 at-bats before this performance. He also recorded a pair of extra-base hits, marking his first since December 8th. So far, he has appeared in 24 games racking up 54 at-bats while registering a .241 average.

OF INTEREST

Jesus Aguilar (1B, Leones del Caracas) 4-4. Aguilar was a hit machine Friday recording a single in all of his at-bats to raise his average to .315. He had a solid season with the Brewers last year hitting .265 with 16 home runs and 52 RBIs in 133 games.

HB posted this in Articles, but I'll put it here too, since Alonso came from Cuba:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/yonde ... nger-self/

Matanzas, Las Tunas, Industriales and Granma. Who will take the cat to the water?

While the national baseball is in mourning for the death of two of its greatest players, pitcher Jesús Guerra and the eternal slugger of Bejucal, Romelio Martínez, here are five questions prior to the playoffs.

Matanzas proves that they have a great team, but ... will this be one more year of disappointment, or the one of great surprise?

With a record of 56-28, the Crocodiles could be the eighteenth team with 60 or more games won in a season in the history of the National Series. Those led by Víctor Figueroa own first place, and will play at home in a series of four games against Las Tunas, which will decide who occupies first place in the standings. If Matanzas is first, it would go against fourth place Granma. In that way, Las Tunas would open in their stadium and then face the Industriales games.

Fire at Quisqueya Stadium causes match suspension

The fire department works to control the fire that started in the press boxes

A fire in the press box of the Quisqueya Stadium Juan Marichal forced Wednesday night the suspension of the game between the Giants of the Cibao and the Lions of the Chosen in the Dominican winter baseball.

According to press reports, the fire was apparently caused by a short circuit in an air conditioning unit in the 'Seventh Heaven', as it is known to the area intended for the transmission of games and press.

Meanwhile, the portal Accente said that the fire the home of the teams Tigres del Licey and Los Leones began around 6:30 pm caused the authorities to evacuate the historic sports complex. After 7:30 pm the fire continued to consume the offices and boxes and, according to messages on Twitter, the fire also affected the playing field.

In the middle of the incident, the Lions team wrote on their Twitter account: "Due to a fire in the seventh heaven of the Quisqueya Stadium, our game today has been suspended. Firefighters work hard in the situation. To our fans, we recommend staying away from the area. "

Means of communication in the Dominican Republic report that the metal structure that supports the boxes could give way due to the intense heat of the fire, which could not be controlled by the firefighters due to the lack of pressure necessary for the water to reach the boxes and lack of adequate equipment to reach the area of ​​the accident.

Joseph Colón

The bullpen will be the strength of the team.

Having dominated the pitching in the last three seasons, the Cangrejeros de Santurce return with the same strength for the Roberto Clemente League tournament that starts next Friday.

Among the relievers are right handers Marvin Gorga, Joseph Colón, Andrés Santiago and Fernando Cabrera, the latter a closer.

Colón comes from pitching in the Mexican Pacific League, in which he did not allow runs in 11 games in which he relieved. He had 11 strikeouts.

Two Indians had solid Dominican League playoff debuts on Thursday night.

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE (LVBP)

Jorma Rodriguez (Tiurones de Le Guaira - Game 2, 3B) - 0-2, 1 E - Jorma-Rod struggled in the nightcap of Thursday night's doubleheader (he only had two at-bats because winter ball doubleheaders, like those in the American minor leagues, involve a pair of seven-inning games). His first appearance in nearly a week lowered his slash line over his last 10 games to .179/.233/.286. His season slash line (.232/.283/.357 in 25 games) isn't much better.

DOMINICAN LEAGUE (LIDOM) PLAYOFFS - ROUND ROBIN

Erik Gonzalez (Leones del Escogido, SS) - 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 1 SB - Gonzalez's playoff debut was a solid one, highlighted by a three-run, line-drive double to center field. The three RBI represented a 25% increase in his season total (he drove in 12 runs in 27 games in the regular season). Hopefully, Gonzalez can keep hitting this well throughout the postseason. Finishing strong would not only provide Erik with momentum going into spring training, but would also be a positive sign regarding his ability to produce in clutch situations.

Louis Head (Gigantes del Cibao, RP) - Head also got his 2017-2018 LIDOM postseason off to a strong start by setting the Leones down in order in the top of the ninth. Such an impressive performance was hardly surprising as it continued a shutout streak that stood at six appearances and 5.2 innings at the end of the regular season.

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The weekend could be played ball in Quisqueya Stadium, according to Public Works

The Ministry said that the presidential box will have to be demolished completely due to the structural damage caused by the fire


Santo Domingo: A brigade of more than 100 men from the Ministry of Public Works worked three hours in order to deliver the Quisqueya Stadium as soon as possible, after the legendary park was affected by a fire in the press box called "Séptimo Cielo".

The Minister of Public Works, Gonzalo Castillo, explained that the brigades will be working as long as necessary to restore the stadium so that the Round Robin can continue. The stadium is home to the Leones del Escogido and Tigueres del Licey teams.

"Ball will be played at Quisqueya Stadium within 48 to 72 hours as President Danilo Medina asked to be kept informed every 12 hours of how the work is going," said Castillo.

Due to the disaster, which affected the press area of ​​the aforementioned stadium, it will be demolished with the intention of giving security to the fans who come to the Quisqueya Stadium.

These are the postseason series in the LVBP

Barquisimeto, Valencia and Caracas will be the venues of the duels of January 2

CARACAS.- The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League ended this Friday, December 29 and with these were defined those classified to the postseason.

Cardinals, Magellan, Lions, Tigers, Caribs and Eagles will play the playoffs from January 2 in Barquisimeto, Valencia and Caracas.

In this way the series were defined as follows:

Cardinals vs. Eagles.

Magallanes Vs. Caribes.

Lions Vs. Tigers.