The Leadoff: How much concern should the Crocodiles' downward spiral be concerned?
The Leadoff will be my baseball column during this 63rd National Series of Cuban baseball, and you will be able to read it in Spanish for BaseballdeCuba.com, but I also hope to reproduce some stories here.
The 63rd Cuban National Baseball Series is two games away from halfway through the regular season. Perhaps, for many teams, the most worrying moment of the campaign should not be this. However, perspectives change when it comes to contenders who have not quite found their rhythm. This has happened to the Matanzas Crocodiles, who have a record of 14-19 (five games under .500) and have lost their last five games.
In that period, Matanzas pitchers have allowed 72 hits (15 extra bases, including eight home runs) and 44 runs, accumulating more walks (25) than strikeouts (19). Of course, the 13.50 ERA for starters, and 6.00 ERA for relievers, are perfectly reasonable.
Still, I'll tell you what really sounds concerning to me: Over their last five games, Crocodiles pitchers have been facing about 43 batters per game. That's just five batters faced above the league average, but here's the big problem: Matanzas has faced 49% of those batters with runners in scoring position.
The risk has been evident.
It's hard to stop opponents in that situation, when virtually every other batter has a runner in scoring position. For that situation to change, the Crocodiles inevitably need their pitchers to dominate again or, as has happened in the past, the offense to provide enough advantages on the scoreboard.
But that's not what's happening these days, especially during the Crocodiles' tour of Pinar del Río. And last Tuesday, when they returned home, pitching chaos broke out again. The Crocodiles scored a five-run rally against the Pirates pitchers in the first inning. So, this week's first game presented itself as a great opportunity for the Crocodiles to support their veteran starter, right-hander Noelvis Entenza.
Last week, Entenza was the only starter in the rotation to make it past the fifth inning. Entenza pitched seven innings of four runs, allowed nine hits, struck out five opponents, walked three, and was credited with the 8-7 victory last Tuesday against Pinar del Río at the Capitán San Luis stadium. Since that opening, the Crocodiles have not been able to win again. Entenza led the way into the top of the sixth inning Tuesday afternoon.
When he was relieved by right-hander Henry Moyet, the Pirates had two runners on base. Then, both runners inherited by Moyet scored. The Pirates turned the score around using the speed of their runners: they stole three consecutive bases. They got two walks — one of them was intentional, for 46-year-old veteran Luis Felipe Rivera — and then Yordanis Acebal hit a grand slam that brought the score down.
Pirates 10, Crocodiles 5. With just six plate appearances, the Pirates overcame a deficit again at the Victoria de Girón stadium, which brought back memories of the Semifinal that I covered in the 2015 postseason.
Do you remember that playoff? The Crocodiles came out as heavy favorites to advance to the final, but the Pirates were in charge of breaking all the predictions. With two games left in the first half of the regular season in this 63rd National Series, the Crocodiles need to turn a corner and show that they can be contenders again.
Yes, it has been difficult for Matanzas to find stability without its main starters, shortstop Erisbel Arruebarena and second baseman Yadil Mujica, two key pieces in the lineup and in the infield. Infielder Luis Sánchez has been far from what was expected, producing just 14 OPS+ in 91 plate appearances. Also, look at what happened last week with the Crocodiles' offense, who posted a slash of .252/.354/.365/.719 against Pinar del Río pitchers, with just a .207 average with runners on scoring position:
—Aníbal Medina hit 3-for-16 (.188) and strangely couldn't walk.
—Adrián Pérez hit 2-for-16 (.125).
—Rookie catcher Yeison Fernández went 0-for-10 with four strikeouts.
—Eduardo Parreira could not take advantage of the opportunity to start and went 2-for-11.
—José de Jesús Prens closed with 2-for-12 (.167).
—Ariel Sánchez hit 7-for-16 (.438), but went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Moisés Esquerré, Eduardo Blanco, Yariel Duque and José Amaury Noroña were the Crocodiles' most productive hitters last week, but when they were not in the batter's box, scoring opportunities were considerably reduced.
The absence of catcher Andrys Pérez has also been felt, especially seeing that Matanzas has had 10 consecutive stolen bases in the last five games — five of them were from the Pirates last Tuesday afternoon.
The latest news definitely hasn't been good for the Crocodiles of Matanzas, but I still think they have enough potential to find their rhythm and overcome this active five-game losing streak. Of course, the pitching situation still remains the most worrying turning point. The second half of the season is here. So the answers will have to come sooner rather than later.