Three out of four Twins have good games. A walkoff homer for Escogido. Big innings decide the other two games.
ESCOGIDO 4, ESTE 3 IN ESCOGIDO
Twins: Chris Colabello (Este) was 2-for-3. Jorge Polanco (Escogido) was 0-for-4 with a walk. Aderlin Mejia (Escogido) was 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI.
Este: Eugenio Velez (Milwaukee) was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double. Cesar Puello (Mets) was 2-for-3 with a double and a run. Claudio Vargas pitched three shutout innings, giving up four hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
Escogido: Carlos Santana (Cleveland) was 3-for-5 with a home run. Miguel Olivo (Seattle) was 2-for-4 with a double and a triple, scoring twice. Roberto Novoa struck out two in two shutout innings, allowing one hit and no walks.
The game: A sacrifice fly put Este on the board in the second and an RBI single from Mayo Acosta (Tampa Bay) made it 2-0 in the fourth. Mejia had an RBI triple in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1, but Este got the run back in the sixth when Feliz delivered an RBI single. The lead held up until the eighth, when an error and a run-scoring single by Gregory Polanco (Pittsburgh) tied the score. Santana led off the ninth with a walkoff homer.
AGUILAS 7, LICEY 4 IN AGUILAS
Twins: Danny Santana (Aguilas) was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
Licey: Anderson Hernandez was 2-for-4 with two home runs, his third and fourth. Engel Beltre (Texas) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a triple, scoring once. Hector Noesi (Seattle) pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks.
Aguilas: Juan Perez (San Francisco) was 3-for-4 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in three. Audry Perez (St. Louis) was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs. Kelvin Villa struck out eight in 3.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits and one walk.
The game: Licey scored single runs in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead. Aguilas came back with two in the bottom of the third on a home run by Mike Bianucci (Texas) and an RBI single by Santana. Juan Perez doubled in Audry Perez in the sixth to tie it up at three. Licey went ahead 4-3 in the seventh on a Hernandez homer, but Aguilas took control of the game with a four-run eighth. Juan Perez had a two-run single that put Aguilas ahead. Licey sent only three men to the plate in the ninth.
ORIENTE 9, CIBAO 4 IN ORIENTE
Cibao: Juan Silverio (Cincinnati) was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Leury Garcia was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Moises Sierra (Toronto) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.
Oriente: Alfredo Marte (Arizona) was 1-for-3 with two walks and a three-run homer (his third), scoring twice. Michael Martinez (Pittsburgh) was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Ed Rogers was 4-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
The game: Each team scored three times in the first. Cibao got an RBI single from Garcia in the second to go ahead 4-3, but Oriente tied it in the fourth on a Rogers RBI single. It was tied until the sixth, when Oriente scored five times to take control of the game. Audy Ciriaco had a two-run double in the inning.