CARACAS 9, LARA 1 AT CARACAS

Batting stars:  Yonathan Mendoza was 2-for-4 with a double.  Josmar Cordero was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  Wilking Rodriguez pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Frank Lopez pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out four.  Ericson Leonora was 3-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Alexander Palma was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Jose Rondon was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second), a walk, two runs, and three RBIs.  Jhonny Pareda was 2-for-5.

The game:  Mendoza doubled and scored on a Yordanys Linares single to put Lara on the board in the first inning.  It was all Caracas from there.  Rondon hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1.  In the third, Ronny Cedeno hit a solo homer and Palma hit a two-run homer to make it 5-1.  Romer Cuadrado singled home a run in the fifth, and another scored on a double play, increasing the lead to 7-1.  In the eighth, a single and four walks brought home the final two runs.

WP:  Lopez (1-0).  LP:  Daniel Alvarez (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mendoza is batting .419.  Gabriel Moreno was 1-for-3 and is batting .419.  Cordero is batting 389.

Alvarez started but pitched just two innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk and striking out one.

Lara used six pitchers.  Four of them have ERAs of nine or higher.  The lowest of the six was Fabian Blanco, who is at 5.40.

Record:  Lara is 6-4, in first place in the West Division by one game over Magallanes and Margarita.

Next game:  Lara hosts Zulia tonight.