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