Postseason: The champions are going to retain the crown
The Alazanes de Granma offense could not react with sufficient production, and its main pitchers were devoured by the unstoppable lineup of the Leñadores de Las Tunas, current national champions.
The offensive power of the Leñadores led by manager Abeisy Pantoja ended up shattering all the predictions that indicated a return of the series to Bayamo. The Semifinal arrived at the Julio Antonio Mella stadium tied at one victory, and Las Tunas swept Granma at home with a 36-run offensive blitz in three games.
After the elimination, the Alazanes were in third place in this 63rd Cuban National Baseball Series, while the Leñadores will face the Vegueros of Pinar del Río in the playoff for the first time, in their fourth final in the last six years.
Game 5: Granma 2, Las Tunas 7
As happened in the previous two games, the Alazanes hoped that their rotation starter could dominate the Las Tunas Leñadores lineup. Left-hander Yunier Castillo in Game 3 and right-hander César García in Game 4 could not combine for more than five outs.
So all hopes fell on the 45-year-old left-hander, Leandro Martínez. The Alazanes needed to win Game 5 to return home and fight for another comeback after being down 3-1. However, this time Leandro could not impose his cunning on the mound.
Postseason: First crown claim
The Leñadores took a quick 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Leandro walked two batters and allowed three doubles by Denis Peña, Yordanis Alarcón (two runs driven in) and Yudier Rondón (driven in Héctor Castillo with two outs). But the most worrying point was not how vulnerable Leandro's pitches were, but his inability to finish off hitters: he was ahead 1-2 in the count and walked Rafael Viñales opening the bottom of the second inning.
Then history was repeated against Denis Peña. Leandro managed to get ahead 1-2 in the count, but he hit a curveball in the low outside corner and Peña hit a double to deep center field. After a pause due to weather conditions at the Julio Antonio Mella stadium, Yordanis Alarcón received Leandro with an RBI double that cleared the bases.
With the first pitch, Jeans Lucas Baldoquín hit another fly ball to deep center field. Darián Palma fielded the ball and completed a great “8-8-5” double play by putting out Alarcón at third. And, when it seemed that the nightmare of the second inning was over, Héctor Castillo resurfaced after falling behind 1-2 in the count and walked. After receiving the first strike, Yudier Rondón extended the Leñadores' rally with a double to deep center field.
Leading 3-0 in just two innings of Game 5, the Leñadores supported right-hander Alejandro Meneses, who allowed only four hits and one run in five innings. The Alazanes' only score had been a solo home run by Alexquemer Sánchez in the top of the fourth inning, which in turn ended a streak of eight consecutive outs by Meneses. In that same inning the Alazanes had the closest opportunity to tie the game.
After two outs, Palma stole second, and rookie Donnis Ramírez walked after a claim of the count by the Leñadores. Yosbany Sánchez came to the plate with the possible tie in circulation, but hit a line drive that was fielded by third baseman Yordanis Alarcón.
The game remained only one more inning with a difference of two runs. Los Alazanes could not score against Meneses in the top of the fifth, and then the Leñadores began their unstoppable journey to retain the crown: they scored a three-run rally, led by a home run by Roberto Súlivan Baldoquín that found Yuniesky Larduet at first.
Leandro Martínez's explosion was inevitable, and the Alazanes offense could not produce. The injuries of Raico Santos and Guillermo Avilés were felt more and more strongly. Leading off the sixth, Alfredo Despaigne hit a solo home run against reliever Rodolfo Díaz, but the fly ball that was lost in the darkness of the night only managed to shatter his drought of 53 plate appearances without connecting extra-base hits.
Díaz's next 15 opponents could only combine for three hits, including a double by Yosbany Sánchez in the top of the ninth with two outs.
The offensive power, the main way that drove the winning rhythm of the Alazanes de Granma throughout the year, was not enough against the pitching of the Leñadores. I also think the 18-15 loss in Game 4 was a decisive blow, but in three consecutive road games, Granma's starters were bombed by Las Tunas.
If we expected anything from this series, it was a confrontation between two of the most offensive lineups in the league. Taking that point for granted, then a more consistent pitching staff was the other key to success in the Semifinal. So it was. Granma's starting pitching projections did not come true, and the Leñadores achieved a sweep at home that defined the Semifinal in just five games. It was really surprising how the Alazanes rotation faded.
Let's take a quick look in depth:
Game 3: Left-hander Yunier Castillo did not get any outs, the Leñadores went 4 for 4 against him with two home runs—including a grand slam by Rafael Viñales—, he allowed five runs, all earned, and walked an opponent.
Game 4: Right-hander César García threw just 1 ⅔ innings, where he hit .500 (10-5), including a double by Yudier Rondón and a solo home run by Roberto Súlivan Baldoquín. He also allowed five earned runs, with a strikeout and a walk.
Game 5: Left-hander Leandro Martínez pitched four innings, going 7 for 17, including three doubles and a home run. Likewise, he allowed five earned runs. He struck out one batter and walked three.
The final numbers in the summary seem absurd, but they were true: Castillo, García and Martínez combined for just 5 ⅔ innings in three starts. The Leñadores hitters hit them 16-for-31, with four doubles and four home runs, giving them a hilarious .516 batting average. They allowed 15 runs, all earned, for an 8.62 ERA. They struck out just two batters and walked five.
It's almost impossible to expect the bullpen to maintain effectiveness after three poor starts. And then carry the load for more than seven innings, especially when the team is behind. And then the Leñadores didn't stop hitting bombs. They scored 36 runs during Games 3 and 5, on 46 hits.
The 30% of those hits (14) were extra-base hits, and 64% of those extra-base hits were home runs (9). The frequency of home runs per fly ball was another impressive trend. The Leñadores hit 58 fly balls into the outfield (including fly balls and line drives) between Games 3 and 5, and 16% became home runs at Julio Antonio Mella Stadium. That average is 3% better than the best home run per fly ball rates during any five-game series last regular season:
Glossary: TEAM: Team on offense. OPP.: Opponent. V/H: Visitor or Home Club. SS: Five-game series, according to schedule. BALLPARK: Stadium. HR/FB+LD: Home runs for each fly ball and line drive. FB+LD: Fly balls plus hit line drives. HR/FB+LD%: Percentage of home runs for each fly ball hit.
As you can see in the table, Las Tunas had the sixth best percentage in the regular season, and it was in the series against the pitching of the Mayabeque Hurricanes. No team surpassed the 16 HR/FB+LD% rate that the Leñadores posted during their three-game home sweep to eliminate the Alazanes.
All along, one blow led to another, and another. And what we saw, in the end, was some absolutely unstoppable Leñadores. Granma's pitchers did not seem ready to prevent each inning from being a nightmare. The first inning of Game 5 this Thursday was the only one of 24 combined innings in which Granma's pitching got three consecutive outs between Games 3 and 5 of this Semifinal.
This was how the Alazanes dynasty ended, who had managed to win 11 consecutive playoff series (between the 2017 Semifinal and the Quarterfinals this year), obtaining the crown in their last four trips to the postseason. The history of the 2018 final could not be repeated, when the Alazanes came back from 0-2 against Las Tunas. This time, the Leñadores got even, showing that they are still unstoppable at home, where they have won 13 of their last 14 playoff games.
Starting next Sunday, Las Tunas will defend its status as defending champion and begin an unprecedented confrontation against Pinar del Río in the Grand Final of this 63rd Cuban National Baseball Series.
