GIGANTES 9, CIBAO 3 AT GIGANTES

Batting stars:  Carlos Paulino was 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs.  Jose Siri was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Carlos Peguero was 1-for-4 with a grand slam (his second homer) and a walk.  Juan Francisco was 1-for-3 with a home run, two walks, and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Miguel Del Pozo struck out three in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Jesus Reyes pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.  Jesus Liriano struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.  Junior Garcia pitched a perfect inning.  Yefri Del Rosario pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Joe Dunand was 2-for-2 with a double.  Otto Lopez was 2-for-3 with a double.  Gregory Polanco was 1-for-3 with a home run, his second.  Gilbert Lara was 1-for-3 with a home run.  Samuel Adames retired all seven men he faced, striking out three.

The game:  The Gigantes took care of things early, scoring seven runs in the first inning.  Two singles and a walk loaded the bases and Peguero hit a grand slam to make it 4-0.  With two out, two singles and a strikeout/wild pitch loaded the bases again.  This time Siri hit a bases clearing double to make it 7-0.

Polanco homered in the second to make it 7-1.  Francisco homered in the fourth to make it 8-1 and Paulino homered in the fifth to make it 9-1.  Lara homered in the seventh to cut the lead to 9-2 and a sacrifice fly later in the inning cut it to 9-3, but that was it.

WP:  Reyes (1-0).  LP:  Josh Lowey (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Luis Jimenez was 1-for-1 and is batting 1.000.  Luis Marte was 1-for-4 and is batting .375.  Siri is batting .345.  Ronald Guzman was 1-for-4 and is batting .324.

Del Pozo, Reyes, Garcia, and Del Rosario each has an ERA of zero.

Marcos Molina started for the Gigantes but pitched just two innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk and striking out three.

Jose Lowey started for Escogido but did not get out of the first inning.  He went two-thirds of an inning, allowing seven runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.

With a blowout game, Escogido substituted freely.  Only one player, outfielder Estevan Florial, played the whole game, and he moved from center to right.  Again, I don't know how big the rosters are, but Escogido used seventeen position players and six pitchers.  One of their pitchers was named Henry Henry, which I mention just because, well, his name is Henry Henry.

Record:  The Gigantes are 4-4, tied for second, two games out of first.

Next game:  The Gigantes are at Aguilas tonight.