Day three of the playoffs. A couple of back-and-forth games.
MAGALLANES 7, ZULIA 6 IN ZULIA
Twins: Miguel Sulbaran (Zulia) retired both batters he faced.
Magallanes: Ronny Cedeno was 2-for-3 with a walk and a three-run homer, scoring twice. Ramon Hernandez was 1-for-2 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Frank Diaz was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Zulia: Ernesto Mejia (Atlanta) was 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs. Hernan Perez (Detroit) was 3-for-5 with a double and three runs. Freddy Galvis (Philadelphia) was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
The game: Mejia hit a three-run homer in the third to open the scoring and give Zulia a 3-0 lead. Magallanes took the lead with five in the fifth, getting RBI singles from Diaz and Hernandez and a three-run homer by Cedeno. Zulia bounced right back in the bottom of the fifth, getting an RBI ground out and a run-scoring single by Mejia to tie it at five. Zulia went back in front 6-5 in the sixth on Galvis' RBI single, but Magallanes went right back up 7-6 in the seventh on a run-scoring ground out and an RBI single by Adonis Garcia (Yankees). And suddenly, the scoring was over. Zulia got a man on in each of the last three innings, but did not advance him past first base.
LA GUAIRA 7, CARACAS 5 IN LA GUAIRA
Caracas: Alex Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one. Bobby Abreu was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run, his second. Jesus Guzman (Houston) was 1-for-4 with a home run.
La Guaira: Cesar Suarez was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second. Rene Reyes was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Joe Thurston was 2-for-2 with two walks and a double, scoring twice.
The game: Alex Cabrera doubled in a run in the first inning to give La Guaira a 1-0 lead. Guzman and Abreu hit back-to-back homers in the fourth to put Caracas up 2-1, but in the bottom of the fourth, Suarez hit a two-run homer and another run scored on a wild pitch to put La Guaira ahead 4-2. Each team scored once in the fifth and Gregorio Petit singled in a run in the sixth, leaving La Guaira in front 5-4. Reyes delievered a two-out two-run single in the seventh to increase the lead to 7-4. Caracas got one back in the eighth and had the tying run on base with one out, but their last five batters went out.
PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Anzoategui, 2-0
Magallanes, 2-1
Zulia, 1-1
La Guaira, 1-2
Caracas, 0-2