Day nine of the playoffs. A big comeback for Caracas. An easy win for La Guaira.
CARACAS 7, ANZOATEGUI 6 IN ANZOATEGUI
Twins: Eduardo Escobar (Anzoategui) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.
Caracas: Jesus Aguilar (Cleveland) was 2-for-3 with two walks, a double, and a home run (his second), driving in three. Yangervis Solarte was 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Jerry Gil pitched two shutout innings, giving up no hits and three walks with one strikeout.
Anzoategui: Alexi Amarista (San Diego) was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Gorkys Hernandez (Kansas City) was 1-for-3 with two walks and a double, scoring twice. Jean Toledo pitched two perfect innings with one strikeout.
The game: In the first, Anzoategui scored two runs on three walks and a wild pitch to go ahead 2-0. In the second, Gustavo Molina doubled in two and a sacrifice fly brought home a third to make the score 5-0 Anzoategui. Caracas started its comeback in the fourth, getting a two-run homer from Aguilar and a run-scoring single by Aharon Eggleston to cut the lead to 5-3. Amarista singled in a run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 6-3, but Solarte tripled and scored in the fifth and delivered an RBI single in the sixth to make it 6-5. It stayed 6-5 until the ninth, when Aguilar doubled in the tying run and Alex Gonzalez singled in the go-ahead run. The best Anzoategui could do in the bottom of the ninth was a two-out walk.
LA GUAIRA 9, ZULIA 1 IN LA GUAIRA
Twins: Oswaldo Arcia (Zuila) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double, driving in one.
Zulia: Luis Ugueto was 2-for-4 with a run. Elvis Araujo (Cleveland) struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks.
La Guaira: Carlos Sanchez (White Sox) was 3-for-5 with a double, scoring three times and driving in three. Joe Thurston was 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Edgmer Escalona (Baltimore) struck out seven in six innings, allowing one run on five hits and one walk.
The game: Sanchez doubled in one and a ground out scored another to give La Guaira a 2-0 lead in the first inning. They added two more in the third on Thurston's two-run double and got another in the fifth on another Thurston RBI double. Arcia doubled in Zulia's lone run in the sixth, but La Guaira got four more in the bottom of the sixth to put the game well out of reach.
PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Magallanes, 6-1
Anzoategui, 4-3
Caracas, 4-3
La Guaira, 3-5
Zulia, 1-6