Two Twins pitchers face only one man apiece. Oswaldo Arcia leaves the game in the second inning.
ANZOATEGUI 9, MAGALLANES 8 IN ANZOATEGUI
Twins: Eduardo Escobar (Anzoategui) was 0-for-4.
Magallanes: Adonis Garcia (Yankees) was 3-for-5 with a double, scoring three times and driving in one. Juan Rivera was 3-for-5 with a run and two RBIs. Erold Andrus was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer.
Anzoategui: Cory Aldridge was 1-for-4 with a walk and a three-run homer (his twelfth), scoring twice. Gorkys Hernandez (Kansas City) was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double, scoring four times. Toru Murata (Cleveland) pitched 3.1 innings, allowing an unearned run on five hits and no walks with two strikeouts.
The game: RBI singles by Adam Loewen and Gustavo Molina gave Anzoategui a 2-1 lead after two. They eventually built leads of 6-1, 8-2, and 9-3. In the ninth, however, Magallanes got RBI singles from Rivera and Eliezer Alfonzo and a three-run homer by Andrus to make it 9-8. The home run killed the rally, though, as the next two batters grounded out to end the game.
ZULIA 4, MARGARITA 2 IN ZULIA
Twins: Miguel Sulbaran (Zulia) struck out the only man he faced.
Margarita: Elias Diaz (Pittsburgh) was 4-for-4. Max Ramirez (Cincinnati) was 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Frank Del Valle (Cubs) pitched five innings, giving up one run on two hits and four walks and three strikeouts.
Zulia: Jose Pirela (Yankees) was 2-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Sandy Leon (Washington) was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double, scoring once and driving in one. Roy Merritt struck out five in five innings, allowing one run on four hits and two walks.
The game: Margarita took a 1-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly. Zulia tied it 1-1 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly. Breyvic Valera (St. Louis) delivered a two-out RBI single in the sixth to give Margarita a 2-1 lead. In the eighth, Pirela singled in the tying run, Leon doubled in the go-ahead run, and a bases-loaded walk scored an insurance run. Margarita went down in order in the ninth.
LA GUAIRA 9, ARAGUA 7 IN LA GUAIRA
Twins: Oswaldo Arcia (Aragua) went 0-for-1 before being removed from the game in the second inning. Josmil Pinto (Aragua) was used as a pinch-hitter and was 0-for-1. Edgar Ibarra (Aragua) retired the only man he faced.
Aragua: Hector Gimenez was 2-for-4 with a double, and a home run (his eleventh) driving in three. Alex Romero was 1-for-4 with a walk and scored twice.
La Guaira: Salvador Perez (Kansas City) was 4-for-5 with four RBIs. Rene Reyes was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double, scoring once and driving in one. Henderson Alvarez pitched five innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with one strikeout.
The game: A two-run single by Perez gave La Guaira a 2-0 lead in the first. They led 5-0 after four and 8-1 after five. Aragua came back with three in the sixth (aided by two errors) and three in the eighth (aided by one error). Gimenez had a two-run double in the inning and was stranded on second base as the potential tying run. Javier Herrera (San Francisco) hit an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth to give La Guaira an insurance run and Aragua did not get a man on base in the ninth.
LARA 11, CARACAS 4 IN LARA
Caracas: Gerardo Parra was 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Jesus Aguilar was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fourteenth) and three RBIs. Aharon Eggleston was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Lara: Luis Valbuena (Cubs) was 2-for-3 with a walk and a two-run homer (his third), scoring three times. Paulo Orlando (Kansas City) was 2-for-3 with two doubles, scoring twice and driving in two. Romulo Sanchez pitched two shutout innings, allowing no hits and one walk with one strikeout.
The game: Caracas scored first, getting a sacrifice fly in the first inning, but Caracas came back with two in the bottom of the first on Valbuena's two-run homer and got five in the third to take control. The five-run inning was aided by two errors, a wild pitch, and a passed ball. Caracas never got closer than five runs after that.
I was hoping to read that the reason Oswaldo was removed from the game was "Dude, you're awesome."