Postseason: There will be Games 7!
In a record day with a round of three Games 6, Pinar del Río defeated Sancti Spíritus 7-3 and became the first to qualify for the Semifinal of this 63rd Cuban National Baseball Series. The victory of the Vegueros was really expected, but the Tigres de Ciego de Ávila and the Industriales de La Habana have turned their respective postseason challenges around.
Ciego de Ávila defeated Las Tunas 3-1 with a key home run by Rubén Valdéz, which forced Game 7 against the current national champions. The Tigres had tied the series 2-2 at home, and this Saturday they will seek a ticket to the Semifinal as visitors at the Julio Antonio Mella stadium. For its part, Industriales has surprised after emerging from a 0-3 deficit. The Capital Blues tied the series 3-3 with a 7-5 victory in 10 innings during Game 6.
As happened last year in the Semifinals, Industriales will have to face Santiago de Cuba in the always unpredictable Game 7. I thought I could take a break this Friday, but the pace of this postseason has been overwhelming. Did you think that this series between Santiago de Cuba vs Industriales would end in four or five games? Well, it was reasonable, but remember: in baseball anything can be possible.
Let's analyze some key points that led the Blues to victory in Game 6, and for many to an unexpected trip to Game 7:
Industriales 7, Santiago de Cuba 5 (Final in 10 innings)
Key moment: Before a large crowd that filled the Guillermón Moncada stadium, Industriales decided the game with a three-run rally at the beginning of the tenth inning. As happened at the end of the eleventh inning in Game 3, Oscar Valdés opened the Tie Break. This time it was the tenth inning, facing Alberto Bisset. Oscar again got into position to touch the ball, but this time he brought the bat back. The play turned into a “feint bunt” and theft of a base. Ariel Hechevarría had come out with the launch. Catcher Alexander Llanes threw to third, but Euclides Pérez was in front of the bag and could not touch the runner in time.
Hechevarría stole third, and Yasmany Tomás took advantage of the play to steal second.
Unlike Game 3, and Roberto Álvarez's bunt that served to force Oscar Valdés at the beginning of the sixth, this time the play went well for Industriales manager, Guillermo Carmona. The great success was in causing a throwing error, and placing two runners in scoring position, which avoided a double play situation. Oscar Valdés was out with a ground ball to third. With the Santiago de Cuba infield trying to prevent the run, Dayron Miranda hit a ground ball to short. Shortstop Maykol Poll made a brilliant catch and quickly threw home, but Ariel Hechevarría slid and managed to score before catcher Alexander Llanes could touch him.
Industriales' second run came after an intentional walk to Alberto Calderón. With bases loaded, Juan Carlos Torriente grounded out to short and the Avispas were unable to create the double play. Industriales completed the decisive three-run rally with a single to left by ninth hitter Yamil Rivalta, who was key on offense throughout the night.
That three-run lead was enough. The Avispas, who had not scored since the end of the fourth inning, scored just one score in the Tie Break against rookie Jordan Williams.
As we've seen throughout this playoffs, which could very well have been won by either team heading into Game 6, mistakes have marked every loss. Not to mention that Santiago de Cuba left seven runners on base, and the first four hitters in the lineup went 3-for-18—Maykol Poll was dominated 0-for-5 as a leadoff—, there were several errors that gave life to Industriales:
—Two throwing errors that influenced: Adriel Labrada's throwing error in the sixth inning, which allowed Dayron Miranda to score. When Euclides threw to second, Labrada was seen having trouble pivoting and, even so, he threw to first to attempt the double play.
—Euclides Pérez's throwing error on Yasiel Santoya's grounder to third would have been the second out of the seventh inning. And, then, Bisset's strikeout of Tomás would have ended the inning. But the opposite happened: one less out helped Oscar Valdés enter the inning. You already know the rest of the story: Oscar hit a double to deep right field, and the Blues tied the game—of course, if there had been a runner faster than Yasiel Santoya at first, Industriales would have gone ahead in the marker.
—The two outs at the plate: At the end of the fourth inning, Alexander Llanes should have scored from second with Euclides Pérez's double to deep center field. And, one inning later, when catcher Oscar Valdés couldn't block a pitch from Molina, Luis Orlando Veranes' risky run to the plate didn't work.
Game MVP: Yandi Molina. When it seemed that the Industriales bullpen would collapse, Molina pitched four innings and allowed no hits. Since he entered the game in the bottom of the fifth, he struck out the fourth and fifth hitting duo of Garcia and Labrada, preventing them from putting the ball in play. Molina silenced Santiago de Cuba's offensive, dominating 11 of the 12 opponents he faced.
Turning point to consider: The relief of right-hander Yandi Molina. Molina relieved 17 games in the regular season, and logged just 18 ⅓ innings. So, normally, he was a situational pitcher for one inning. He faced 94 opponents, struck out seven, walked 17 and allowed six doubles and two home runs.
His 8.84 ERA was the first thing I remembered when they made the call to the bullpen. But I also had in mind that, when Granma was about to sweep Industriales in the Quarterfinal series two postseasons ago, Yandi Molina pitched 7 ⅔ innings and took the victory in Game 4. So, Molina had terrible numbers during all year, but his postseason record showed otherwise. For Industriales, that moment arrived where each bullpen situation became the key to the game.
Santiago de Cuba was ahead on the scoreboard 4-2, with two runners on bases with no outs at the end of the fifth inning. Everything seemed to indicate that it was the Avispas' big moment, but Yandi Molina stole the show: he delivered consecutive strikeouts to the fourth and fifth hitters, Eduardo García and Adriel Labrada.
Molina made an even more spectacular third out, after throwing what looked like his second wild pitch of the inning. Catcher Oscar Valdés could not control the pitch and the ball escaped. Third base runner Luis Veranes ran from third to the plate to try to score, but Valdés picked up the ball and quickly threw it home. Molina arrived in time to tag the runner, completing one of the key outs of the entire night. Santiago de Cuba challenged the play in the video, but the out at home plate was really clear.
After that big score in the bottom of the fifth inning, Molina dominated nine of his 10 opponents—including 10 consecutive outs with the three in the fifth inning. Rookie left-hander Jordan William added another zero in the bottom of the ninth, extending the Industriales bullpen's scoreless innings to five. That dominance was decisive for the Blues to tie the game. Industriales scored one run per inning from the fourth to the seventh.
For the sixth consecutive game, the Santiago de Cuba starters were unable to register a quality start. Yosiel Serrano retired his first nine opponents, but exploded at the top of the fifth inning after allowing consecutive singles by Alfredo Rodríguez and Yamil Rivalta. After a poor relief from right-hander Luis Ángel Torres, Bisset took on the challenge of stopping the Lions lineup.
The 40-year-old veteran dominated Yasmany Tomás three times, the first of them when he entered with the bases loaded to start the fifth. Tomás swung at Bisset's first pitch, and hit a perfect grounder for a double play.
The next inning, Bisset got a big out after allowing two hits. Roberto Álvarez touched the ball to the right of the mound and Bisset managed to force the runner at third. In that inning, second baseman Adriel Labrada made an error in a throw to first trying to complete a double play, and the Industriales got closer on the scoreboard, 4-3.
Despite the three errors, this time the Industriales defense achieved several decisive plays: A brilliant catch by pitcher Leodán Reyes, who fielded a bunt from Maykol Poll on the first lime line. Veranes then singled to center, which would have increased the Avispas' probability of scoring in that third inning. After Veranes' hit, sensational fielding by Roberto Álvarez—he caught a fly ball to deep left-center—put out Francisco Martínez in the third inning.
With a two-run deficit, all of these plays were key for the Blues to tie the game.
A statistic you should know: Of 12 playoff series in the history of the best-in-seven-game Quarterfinals, 50% of the teams had played a Game 7. Game 7s have been common, but no team in history of the Cuban baseball playoffs has come back from 0-3. This Friday, Industriales became the second team to recover from 0-3 and manage to tie the series 3-3. The previous one was Pinar del Río, in the final of the 55th National Series against Ciego de Ávila.
Will this be the time that statistic changes?
