Dominican Digest: Games of 12/20

A good day for Jorge Polanco.  Lots of free baseball in Este.

LICEY 5, ESTE 4 IN ESTE (16 INNINGS)

Twins:  Dan Rohlfing (Licey) was used as a reserve and was 0-for-1.

Licey:  Emilio Bonifacio (Kansas City) was 4-for-8 with a triple, scoring once and driving in one.  Engle Beltre (Texas) was 2-for-5 with two walks and a double, driving in two.  Maikel Cleto (Kansas City) pitched four perfect innings of relief with three strikeouts.

Este: Eugenio Velez (Milwaukee) was 2-for-6 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one.  Jose Constanza (Philadelphia) was 3-for-8 with a run.  Hector Neris (Atlanta) struck out four of the six men he faced in two perfect innings.

The game:  Este got a run on a double play in the fourth to go ahead 1-0.  RBI singles by Anderson Hernandez and Jim Murphy (Philadelphia) put LIcey up 2-1 in the sixth, but Velez doubled in the tying run in the eighth.  A two-run single by Beltre gave Licey a 4-2 lead in the eleventh, but Andy Vasquez (Pittsburgh) hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eleventh to tie it.  Bonifacio delivered an RBI single in the sixteenth to put Licey ahead 5-4.  Este went down in order in the bottom of the sixteenth.

CIBAO 6, ESCOGIDO 2 IN ESCOGIDO

Twins:  Jorge Polanco (Escogido) was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double, scoring once.  Aderlin Mejia (Escogido) was 0-for-3 with a walk.

Cibao:  Francisco Peguero (Baltimore) was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, his fifth, scoring twice.  Leury Garcia was 3-for-5 with a triple and a run.  Dylan Owen pitched 3.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Escogido:  Gregory Polanco (Pittsburgh) was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Melky Mesa was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double.  Julio DePaula pitched two shutout innings, allowing two hits and one walk.

The game:  Moises Sierra (Toronto) doubled in a run in the first to give Cibao a 1-0 lead.  Each team scored once in the fourth, leaving Cibao up 2-1.  It stayed there until the eighth, when Jimmy Paredes (Houston) singled in a run and another run scored on a squeeze bunt to make it 4-1.  Cibao added two more in the ninth to put the game out of reach.  Escogido scored one in the bottom of the ninth but did not threaten to get back into the game.

AGUILAS 7, ORIENTE 2 IN AGUILAS

Oriente:  Ed Rogers was 2-for-4 with a triple, scoring once and driving in one.  Jackson Williams (Colorado) was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.  Andrew Sisco pitched five innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Aguilas:  Alexis Gomez was 1-for-2 with a walk and a home run (his second), scoring twice and driving in two.  Juan Perez (San Francisco) was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs.  Carlos Martinez (St. Louis) struck out seven in 4.1 innings, allowing an unearned run on one hit and no walks.

The game:  Aguilas took a 1-0 lead on an error in the second, but Rogers circled the bases on a triple-and-error in the fourth to tie it at one.  Rogers singled in a run in the sixth to give Oriente a 2-1 lead.  Aguilas tied the score in the sixth on a bases-loaded hit batsman and took the lead later in the inning on a two-run single by Joaquin Arias (San Francisco).  In the eighth, a two-run homer by Andy Marte (Arizona) and a solo shot by Gomez cemented the victory.