Talking baseball on a rainy Saturday
We knew it was a matter of time: The Leñadores de Las Tunas traveled to Artemisa recording a 41-26 record. They had one less victory than the Santiago de Cuba. In “theory”, the third place standing was not officially decided. But the current national champions cleared up doubts with a 4-1 success against the Artemisa this Saturday at the 26 de julio stadium.
The history of the game
With 10 minutes left to start the game, I thought that the rain would prevent the voice of play ball from being heard in Artemisa—I was even more worried, because the lineups were not published on the official site. In Havana it was raining a lot. The rain began at 1:53 pm, and did not stop until after 7:30 pm. However, in the 26 de Julio park in Artemisa the weather conditions were favorable.
Rafael Viñales opened the scoring in the second inning with a solo home run, his 18th of the season, crunching a pitch from the Cazadores' starter, right-hander Dayron Díaz (3-3). One inning later, Jeans Lucas Baldoquín made the score 2-0 with an RBI single after two outs.
For the Leñadores, left-hander Eliander Bravo (4-2) led the way with four scoreless innings. The only run he allowed was in the bottom of the fifth inning, when the Artemisa combined a single by Dainel López, a double by rookie Leyán Corvo and a sacrifice fly by leadoff Lázaro Dayán Pérez. After Bravo's performance for five innings of five hits with one walk—he did not strike out any opponent—right-hander Rodolfo Díaz was in charge of covering the rest of the game.
Díaz pitched the final four innings, allowing just three hits against 12 opponents and earning his 11th save of the season—he was one save away from catching the leader, Sancti Spíritus right-hander Yankiel Mauris.
First baseman Deismel Hurtado gave the final blow to the Leñadores' offense with a two-run double at the start of the sixth inning. After the fifth inning, the Cazadores' offense could not react, so Díaz (3-3) was defeated. The Leñadores had opportunities to extend the score: they had 10 hits, which included four extra bases (three doubles and a home run), but they left 10 runners on base.
Full domain
In just 1 hour and 55 minutes of play this Saturday, the Leñadores took a 2-1 lead in the series against the Cazadores de Artemisa this year. That result in three games is a small sample that looks encouraging compared to the overwhelming dominance of the current national champions: Las Tunas has won 17 of its last 24 games against Artemisa since the 58th National Series (the span corresponding to the last five seasons).
Once again, Viñales!
With his 18th home run of the season, Rafael Viñales leads the Leñadores' lineup in offensive power, where he also leads in slugging (.648) and extra bases (35). Viñales will start tomorrow's game, Sunday, two home runs behind the leader in this 63rd National Series, Alfredo Despaigne (20). But returning to the impact of “Rafa” Viñales with the power of his swing, the interesting news to highlight here goes beyond hitting home runs: this year, Viñales has recorded the fourth season of his career with at least 14 HR and 50 RBI. Three of those four seasons he has recorded in his last three National Series:
60 National Series: 19 HR/66 RBI
61 National Series: 14 HR/50 RBI
63 National Series: 18 HR/68 RBI
Speaking of home runs and RBIs at that level, Ermidelio Urrutia was the first hitter in history to achieve this feat (14+ HR and 50+ RBI) with a Las Tunas team. Batting with an aluminum bat, Urrutia led the league—both Western and Eastern Zones—with 20 home runs, and drove in 54 runs in just 46 games during the 29th National Series (1989-1990 season).* And, eleven years later, the First baseman Gilberto Rodríguez (16 HR/56 RBI) became the first with a wooden bat in the 40th National Series.
*In that 1989-1990 season, Urrutia was four RBIs away from tying with Pablo Bejerano (Granma), who led the Eastern Zone with 58 RBI.**
**I don't know if you know, but particularly between 1987 and 1993, leaders were elected by Zones: Western and Eastern.
The following year, Urrutia once again led the league in home runs (16), but again fell behind in RBIs. Urrutia drove in 45, and the leader, who was Villa Clara outfielder Oscar Machado, drove in 54. Yes, I think this was the difference: the poor offense of the Leñadores of that generation did not allow Ermidelio Urrutia to register more appearances in the home plate with runners on base.
These numbers will probably surprise you: Only 12 of Urrutia's last 52 home runs were with at least two runners on base. Urrutia hit 48% of those home runs with empty bases, and 77% with empty bases or at least one runner on base.
Las Tunas had only two qualified hitters with at least .300 batting average and .400 on-base percentage in that 1990-1991 season. One, obviously, was Ermidelio Urrutia. The other? Outfielder Pablo Alberto Civil, who slashed .314/.413/.372, with no home runs, with only five RBIs in 161 plate appearances. I was not able to see Ermidelio Urrutia's entire career, but it is clear that he was for many years the most consistent and respected hitter in the Las Tunas offense.
Returning to the conversation about hitters with at least 14 HR and 50 RBI, the all-time leader on Las Tunas teams remains Joan Carlos Pedroso, who has left unattainable records:
Most seasons with at least 14+ HR and 50+ RBI
Joan Carlos Pedroso: 11
Yosvany Alarcón: 5
Alexander Guerrero: 4
Rafael Viñales: 4
*Dánel Castro and Osmani Urrutia were left with three.
**One of the reasons why Urrutia does not appear there is because in the regular seasons of the National Series of his time, fewer than 75 games were played. But, after the National Series was over, the Selective Series was played with a great concentration of quality. Unlike those years, Pedroso recorded his numbers in the regular season of 90 games, in the period between 1997 and 2012. Ermidelio faced a much higher level in the “Aluminum Bat Era”, but Pedroso and the other members of the ranking hit with wooden bat. They were two different times. So let's just enjoy the story.
42 and counting, what's next for the Leñadores?
By reaching 42 victories, Las Tunas, which won the series 4-1 this year against Santiago de Cuba, secured third place in the standings. With this result, the Wasps were officially in fourth place and, as expected, they will face Industriales in the Quarterfinal series.
The case of the Leñadores is not yet defined, because it depends on two combinations: (1) The results in their remaining games and; (2) The definition between the two games that Pinar del Río vs Granma will play next week. An important point is that Granma (47-26) has the advantage of having won (4-1) the series against the Leñadores this year.
If Granma wins one of its two games against Pinar del Río, then Las Tunas would have to win its remaining seven games in order to move up to second place in the standings. If Granma obtains two victories, then they would displace Pinar del Río, and they would remain as leaders of the regular season.
In the event that Granma loses both of its games against Pinar del Río, Las Tunas would have to win six of its last seven games to ascend to second place in the standings. So, as my grandmother used to say: “let me know when everything is ready.”
We'll see what happens tomorrow, Sunday, but I think that if the Leñadores finish in third place in the standings, they would be more comfortable heading into the postseason.
The reason? Yes, they have won eight of their last nine playoff games against the Tigres de Ciego de Ávila.
