Playoffs Races, Junio 13

The Indians continue to struggle; HR walk-off saved Villa Clara; Guibert's 3-HR vs. Industriales; more notes

Eight of the 12 games that were scheduled for this Thursday could be played, including a doubleheader where Guantánamo beat Isla de la Juventud 9-7 and 8-5. For tomorrow, Friday, there will be 10 games scheduled. It is expected that the rain will not suspend the challenge between Artemisa vs Las Tunas again, who could not play between last Tuesday and Thursday. Even so, our Playoffs Races column will continue until the arrival of eight teams to the “Promised Land” is official. Of course, the format may change on some occasions, given the circumstances of the moment.

We thank all the new readers who have subscribed. And of course, we'll have another moment here to answer some of your requests. For now, let's get back to our latest news on the contenders. We had no news on the statuses, but the current situation could change as quickly as seven innings.

Contender status

The Gallos de Sancti Spíritus continue to hold eighth place in the standings. After an agonizing day after allowing 15 runs—10 of them were supported by the bullpen—, the Gallos received one of the best news in this final stretch of the season: Left-hander Álex Guerra took the mound again and dominated at the level expected by the equipment. Guerra was pitching 3-5 with a 5.17 ERA in 13 starts before facing the Holguín Cubs this Thursday at Calixto García Stadium. All of the team's starters with at least 10 starts had posted an ERA below 5.00.

Guerra really fell short of expectations, but this Thursday he led the Roosters' 10-0 shutout, allowing just three hits (all singles) with three strikeouts and no walks. It is true that the Gallos supported Guerra offensively with 10 runs, but in other starts his work had been insufficient. If Guerra can continue to extend his dominance, the Gallos' rotation could get another arm to help alleviate the bullpen's responsibilities.

Sancti Spíritus has a 2-1 lead over Holguín, but each game of this series has turned into an early playoff atmosphere.

Lurking contenders

Guantánamo (34-35) and Villa Clara (34-36) are trying to catch up with the Gallos. The Indians won their doubleheader this Thursday against the Pirates, and are ½ game behind the Gallos. After the surprising 5-4 success against Cienfuegos with a walk-off home run by pinch-hitter Pedro Luis Chávez in the bottom of the ninth inning, Villa Clara is 1.0 game behind Sancti Spíritus. However, the difference here is that the Leopards won this year's series against Sancti Spíritus (4-1) and Guantánamo (3-2). So, as I have meticulously repeated every day in this column, a three-way tie between them would favor Villa Clara. In the case of Sancti Spíritus vs Guantánamo, the Gallos would advance for having won 4-1 in the regular season. Neither of these teams will meet during the final week of the regular season. As I wrote before, the Indians' key will have a high percent chance if they sweep the Pirates. Otherwise, they would have to play three games against the Wasps, while the Gallos will face Cienfuegos and Villa Clara will face Holguín next week.

Devastating defeat of the day

The Mayabeque Hurricanes dropped to 12th place with a record of 33-37. This is the big problem of fighting for classification on the brink of the abyss: with a defeat, any team could fall two or three places in the standings. If the Hurricanes had won this Thursday, they would have been in tenth place with a record of 34-36, ½ game behind Guantánamo. But this Thursday the story changed: Los Tigres retaliated with an 11-4 victory against Mayabeque.

We haven't had any games dominated by pitching in this series, but we have had a lot of home runs and runs. The Hurricanes began this Thursday with a 19-3 advantage in runs, and 5-3 in home runs. What happened this Thursday? The Tigers hit six extra bases! Yes, four were home runs. Yes, all batters from the first to the fourth inning! Liosvany Pérez, Ronaldo Castillo, Rubén Valdéz and Osvaldo Vázquez were the home run hitters of the day.

Yusdel Tuero allowed three of the four home runs, which led to seven earned runs and nine hits during his 5 ⅔ innings of work. The Tigers' home runs produced 8 of the team's 11 runs in the 11-4 victory. But the home run party at the José Ramón Cepero stadium does not end there: Denis Laza and Jonathan Martínez hit home runs for Mayabeque.

Santiago de Cuba outfielder, Yoelkis Guibert, demonstrated once again that he is far above the current level of the Cuban National Series. He hit three home runs this Thursday against Industriales pitchers. Photo: Jit.cu.

The story to follow that did not involve the contenders for the last playoff berth

Yoelkis Guibert massacred the Industriales pitching with three home runs this Thursday! That's how it was, literally: Guibert went 3-for-5 with three home runs and drove in seven runs to lead Santiago de Cuba's 10-7 success over Industriales at the Latinoamericano stadium. The rest of the Wasps lineup drove in three runs in 39 plate appearances:

• Guibert: 3 XBH, 3 HR, 7 RBI

• Santiago de Cuba: 2 XBH, 1 HR and 3 RBI with the rest of the lineup

• Industriales: 2 XBH, 7 RBI with the entire lineup

Congratulations! It was one of those days when a single batter can carry an entire team. Guibert (15 HR and 67 RBI) hit all of the home runs with runners on base. Maikol Poll, Luis Veranes and Francisco Martínez were the runners who were on base when Guibert detonated each of his three panoramic home run explosions in the “Coloso del Cerro”. Let's see how Guibert crushed each pitch:

Home run No. 1: second inning, Carlos Manuel Cuesta pitching with a runner on third.

The explosive effect of Guibert's swing: Watch the video below. I don't know if we'll agree on this, but I got the impression that catcher Oscar Valdes was waiting for a low fastball on the outside corner. It was reasonable, especially to try to get Guibert to pull the pitch. Valdés did not frame where he wanted the shot. But if you look closely, when Valdés detected Cuesta's release point and the fastball was reaching the plate, the command seemed to surprise him. Guibert crunched the pitch, and Valdés looked up instantly. He knew the hit had been a home run. So we learned one more lesson about pitching against Guibert this season, where the fastball averages between 82-84 mph: Don't throw a fastball up the middle on counts of 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, especially if it's not the pitch that was in the plan. Well, we all make mistakes. Cuesta failed the command and Guibert punished him.

Home run No. 2: sixth inning, Alejandro David Hernández pitching with a runner on first.

The explosive effect of Guibert's swing: 1-0 count. In the video you can see how Valdés framed the pitch, again waiting for a fastball in the low outside corner.

The pitch—which attempted to cross the top third of the strike zone—ended up on the concrete bleachers in center field.

I have frequently heard that pitchers in Cuban baseball have high deficiencies in tactical technical thinking, which is not without reason. However, in other cases it has been commented that they are poorly guided by catchers or pitching coaches. In particular, I do not believe that the great weight of the problem is in the strategic plan of the pitchers. I still think that a large part of the deficiencies are in the execution of the pitches.

We see it every day and, furthermore, the statistics support us. Just look at how walk rates practically exceed strikeouts for multiple pitchers. More walks inevitably equal unfavorable counts for pitchers, which hitters could take advantage of. And so, everything is a chain. What is the end result? What we are seeing today in the Cuban National Series, a total disproportion where the offense continues to be the main trend.

Home run No. 3: eighth inning, Yandi Molina pitching with a runner on first.

The explosive effect of Guibert's swing: Djavú. Another two-ball count, this time 2-2, and another out-of-command pitch. Valdés again framed a pitch toward the low outside corner, well out of reach of Guibert's swing. And what happened? Molina left the pitch in the center of the strike zone. Of course, in terms of actual statistics, most of the time a pitcher throws a pitch into the middle of the strike zone is not going to allow a home run. That's obvious at any level of baseball. But there are times when a command oversight can end up as happened with Cuesta, Hernández and Molina: Guibert waited for each offer. He was ready to gobble up any pitch in the strike zone and crushed them.

This Thursday, no Industriales pitcher could come close to the dominance that Andy Vargas exerted last Wednesday. And, well, I think it goes without saying what the differences were: Guibert became the 112th hitter to hit at least three home runs in a game during the history of the National Series. No Santiago de Cuba hitter achieved the feat of three or more home runs in a game since Alexei Bell bombed Camagüey's pitching on April 19, 2009.

Guibert also joined an honorable club of hitters who have hit at least three home runs in a game wearing the Santiago de Cuba uniform: Orestes Kindelán (4), Antonio Pacheco (2), Fausto Álvarez (2), Luis Enrique Padró (2 ), Rolando Meriño (2), Alexei Bell (1), Evenecer Godínez (1), Ariel Cutiño (1) and Reutilio Hurtado. As you can see, Guibert is the tenth hitter to join the club, and the first in the last 15 years. But that has not been his only feat to remember: among all those great hitters in the history of the Avispas, Guibert has been the only one to achieve it against Industriales in the Latinamericano stadium.

Yes, we no longer live those unforgettable times of the classics between Industriales vs Santiago de Cuba, but I am sure that Guibert will never forget this moment.