Alazanes, two in a row; two time champions!
Code: Select all
JULIO A. MELLA C H E
GRA 100 011 000 3 11 0
LTU 000 000 002 2 8 1
W: Alain Sánchez (13-7). L: Yariel Rodríguez (9-6). S: Raidel Martínez (5).
The Granma managed by Carlos Martí won their second straight baseball title, something that only eight teams had achieved in the history of the national series.
Since seven in the morning of Sunday, January 28, 2018, after a night of insomnia and celebrations in Julio Antonio Mella Park, home to the Las Tunas ball club, opened its doors to thousands and thousands of Las Tunas fans, who, almost without rest, were willing to leave a few spaces in the bleachers for the Granma fans.
The strategy paid off and at two o'clock in the afternoon, seven hours after the grandstands were flooded with the Las Tunas tide, there was only a small strip available for fans of the Alazanes.
However, from their limited space, the Granmaes rocked to the rhythm of the music, as did their team on the diamond, where they were masters (Manduley, Despaigne, Benítez, Céspedes and Raúl González).
Granma lead 3-0 through the first eight innings. but not before having a scare in the bottom of the ninth with a final push by the Lumberjacks who scored twice but came up short by one run ultimately silencing the rest of the park, in mourning, when the ball fell into the glove of Yoelkis Céspedes to certify the last out of the championship.
The party continued later in the streets and the caravan of the monarchs left for home to the hot Granma land to the sounds of music, Granma the capital of Cuban baseball today.
Alain Sánchez is almost never expressive. From him I remember, at most, a cry of fury when he wore the Tigers of Avila shirt a couple of years ago, but nothing more. In general, he devours innings with the greatest calm in the world.
However, sometimes Alain opens his immense eyes in an impressive way, especially when he talks after completing his task. And just like that he was seen in the vicinity of the Alazanes dugout, where, surrounded by shirts with the edging of champion, boasted about the win, the hot one, which will always remembered. A pitching jewel from the Villa Clara righty. Eight immaculate innings bewitching and cutting off all the Lumberjack axes.
With his usual parsimony, Alain won his fourth playoff game and, when he least expected it, they raised his hand as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs, the perfect complement for his third national crown at age 31.
It is not a myth that Las Tunas was the team with the most comebacks in the regular phase of the season. That is true, very true, and precisely because of their capacity for reaction, their eternal fighting spirit and their confidence in winning, they played solid baseball in defeat in the seventh game of the final.
Their bats had been frozen by Alain, to such an extent that they had not even reached second base in eight innings, but woke up at the time of greatest pressure, just three outs from the elimination. Larduet and Jhonson took the Villa Clara pitcher out of the box and against Raidel Martínez, followed the party led by Alarcón, Ayala and Paumier, who came up just one run short of tying the game.
However, Yosvany Alarcón himself, the hero of so many games in the playoffs, became the villain by getting thrown out at second base wanting to be swallowed by the earth, knowing that that being put out the tie options were lost. Life, I am sure, will give him the opportunity to redeem himself in the future.
In the history of the domestic classics, this was the seventh final that extended to seven games, and for the fifth time the winner of the sixth game failed to be crowned later in the sudden death game.
Of the above, Villa Clara won against the Industriales in 1994 (Series 33) in the seventh game with decisive hit by Michel Perdomo and scored a young Ariel Pestano, and recovered from a misstep the day before. Something similar happened to Holguin in 2002 (Series 41), when they fell in the fifth and sixth games against the Roosters of Sancti Spiritus, to then impose their law with the memorable strike out of Oscar Gil against Frederich Cepeda.
Finally, Ciego de Ávila rose from two defeats in the sixth series 54 and 55, in which Isla de la Juventud and Pinar del Río, respectively, equaled the actions with three victories per side but failed to finish the job.
With its brand new crown, the Alazanes become the ninth team to win two titles in a row since the start of our national series, after Industriales, Azucareros, Vegueros, Henequeneros, Villa Clara, Pinar del Rio, Santiago de Cuba and Ciego de Ávila .
The Alzanes were hung from the arms of starter Alain Sanchez and reliever Raidel Martinez, to provide the 3-2 win against the most combative team of the entire season 2017-18, the Lumberjacks of Las Tunas, in Game 7 of the Finals of Cuban baseball , this Sunday afternoon.
The national title on the Caribbean island turns the Alazanes into the representatives of Cuba in the Caribbean Series to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico from February 2 to 8.
The biggest emotions of Game 7 remained to the end as it happened with Game 6 of the series. After an exciting Game 6 decided by a Grand Slam by Danel Castro in the 9th inning with two outs, a hit that will surely be remembered for a long time, Alazanes and Leñadores appeared, less than 24 hours later, on the grounds of the Estadio Mártires de Barbados, trying to make history again. The booklet of the final series did not have Granma as a favorite, after all, only the Home Club teams had been able to win in the first six games. But this time it was a matter of seeing which team was eyeing first or doing everything as correctly as possible.
Las Tunas, who was looking for their first title in history, sent to the mound a young promising Camagüey righty Yariel Rodríguez, who came with a great performance in the 2018 Post season and had a hard task in trying to silence the defending champs of Cuba. The righty did not do anything wrong, walking through the first four innings with only one race given up. The skirmish came in the opening inning, where with Yordan Manduley at second base, a walk to Alfredo Despaigne caused the entry of Carlos Benítez into the batting box, and he did not wait long for a 1-1 pitch singling to right field fbatting in Manduley.
Rodriguez would recover and retire nine in a row with two strikeouts, until the single by Lázaro Cedeño, already with two outs in the fourth inning. In that same inning would have the second threat of the Alazanes, when another single by Raúl González combined with an error by Yuniesky Larduet, caused the runner to advance to third, but receiver Yulexis la Rosa failed to get the run home by grounding out.
But in the fifth inning, Granma could extend the lead for Yariel, when Yoelkis Céspedes and Roel Santos started the inning with consecutive singles, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch by the Woodcutters starter. Then Yordan Manduley would hit a ball deep into right field, batting in the second by the visitors on Cespedes' legs. Yariel would escape an embarrassing situation, when he dominated consecutively the last two batters of the inning.
Meanwhile, Las Tunas was limited by the right handed starter Alain Sánchez, who had been completing a great performance. Only two hits, Yunior Paumier in the second and Yuniesky Larduet in the third, had connected Las Tunas before the right. Sanchez, winner of Game 3 of the series and with a 3-0 record in the 2018 Post season, had only three strikeouts in the afternoon, but two were over the Game 6 hero, Danel Castro.
In the sixth inning, the reinforcement of the Alazanes would receive greater offensive support from his teammates. The entry was started by Despaigne with a double to center and Benítez took him to third with a single to the same territory. The bases would be filled when Cedeño received an intentional walk, the last batter that the Camagüeyan right handed starter would see in the game. When leaving, Diego Granado would relieve him, but, accepting surrendering only one run, when Raúl González raised the sacrifice fly to right scoring Despaigne leaving the scoreboard at 3-0.
With an advantage of 3-0 and less than 120 pitches, Sanchez seemed willing to end the game, after looking immense against the last eight men he faced in the 6th to 8th innings. But, starting the ninth, Las Tunas started aggressively. Larduet singled to center easily and was followed by Jorge Yhonson's triple to the right, the hit driving in the first run for the Lumberjacks and sending Sanchez to the showers and put a whole stadium on theor feet.
When leaving, Alain Sánchez left behind a memorable performance that will also be remembered for a long time against one of the most inspired teams of the season, especially after a spectacular win in Game 6 and against the home team fans. In the end, his work left him with the following numbers: IP : 8 H : 5 C : 2 CL : 2 SO : 3 BB : 0
With the scoreboard showing a 3-2, only one out, runner on first that meant the tie and important hitters like Alex Ayala, Yunior Paumier and Rafael Viñales waiting to consume their turns at the plate, the possibilities of the homeowners looked broad, but the one that for many turned out to be the play that buried all hope of the Lumberjacks to tie the game. The first base runner, Alarcón, took a great lead from first base as one prepared to go out and steal second base, and it was a clear indication of the receiver La Rosa and to the pitcher Martinez. Alarcon was picked off of first base and thrown out at second.
It turned out to be a terrible play for a player of the national team and well-known for his experience.
The play would prove to be fatal. Ayala and Paumier continued with hits, that at least had caused a hypothetical tie if Alarcón had been patient at first, but Martinez eliminated any final threat by dominating Rafa Viñales who flied out into the hands of Yoelkis Céspedes the right fielder for the 27th out of the game and the Cuban season.
