Day eleven of the playoffs. Sacrifice flies are big in a La Guaira comeback. Jackson Melian leads Anzoategui to victory.
LA GUAIRA 4, MAGALLANES 3 IN LA GUAIRA
Twins: Deolis Guerra (Magallanes) pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and one walk with one strikeout.
Magallanes: Ronny Cedeno was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second. Alberto Callaspo (Oakland) was 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Carlos Zambrano pitched 5.2 innings, giving up one run on two hits and five walks with two strikeouts.
La Guaira: Alex Cabrera was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Miguel Gonzalez (White Sox) was 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs. Henderson Alvarez (Miami) struck out five in five innings, allowing two runs on six hits and no walks.
The games: In the third, Cedeno homered and later Callaspo delivered an RBI single to give Magallanes a 2-0 lead. Cabrera singled in a run in the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1. Magallanes got the run back in the seventh on a Renny Osuna RBI single. It stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the ninth. A pair of singles opened the inning and a sacrifice fly cut the lead to 3-2. Later in the inning, a single by Abel Nieves tied the score, still with one out. Carlos Sanchez (White Sox) then hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the winning run for La Guaira.
ANZOATEGUI 5, CARACAS 1 IN CARACAS
Twins: Eduardo Escobar (Anzoategui) was 1-for-5.
Anzoategui: Jackson Melian was 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs. Alexi Amarista (San Diego) was 2-for-3 with a walk and a double, scoring once. Toru Murata (Cleveland) pitched five innings, giving up one run on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
Caracas: Henry Wrigley was 4-for-4. Alex Romero was 2-for-3 with a walk and a double.
The game: Melian homered leading off the third inning to give Anzoategui a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, a sacrifice fly double play tied the score. It was tied until the sixth, when Melian hit a two-out three-run homer to give Anzoategui a 4-1 lead. Oscar Salazar had an RBI single in the seventh for an insurance run.
PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Magallanes, 7-2
Anzoategui, 5-4
Caracas, 5-4
La Guaira, 4-5
Zulia, 1-7