Sandber Pimentel hit a homerun as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning on Sunday to give the Stars a dramatic 6-4 victory over the Gigantes del Cibao in a game corresponding to the semifinal series of the 2021-2022 fall-winter baseball tournament held in the Tetelo Vargas Stadium in this city.
The victory allows the Paquidermos (5-6) to equalize in second place in the standings with the Tigres del Licey, who lost 4-1 to the Águilas Cibaeñas at the Cibao Stadium in Santiago.
With the game 4-3 in favor of the Giants, Pimentel, who came in to bat for Alfredo Reyes, got the ball out of the park on reliever Ryan Kussmaul’s fourth pitch with Jeremy Peña and Gustavo Núñez on bases.
For the Greens it was their second win in line and at the same time stopping a streak of four victories recorded by the Giants, who despite the setback, remain in first place with a 8-3 record.
The winning pitcher was Fernando Abad (2-0), while Kussmaul (1-1) took the loss.
The Stars visit the Tigres this Monday at the Quisqueya Juan Marichal Stadium at five in the afternoon. Rony García is the designated pitcher to face the Blues.
For the Stars, Wei-Chieh Huang started on the mound with three innings and two-thirds of four hits, three runs (all earned), two walks and a strikeout. He was replaced by Chester Pimentel (1.0), Román Méndez (0.1), Claudio Custodio (1.0), Gerson Moreno (1.0), Wirfin Obispo (1.0), Abad (1.0).
For the Giants, Elián Leyva started the game, who pitched four innings and two-thirds of three runs, four transfers and four strikeouts. He was escorted by Luis Santos (1.1), Gerson Bautista (1.0), Jim Fuller (0.1), Huáscar Brazobán (0.2) and Kussmaul (0.2).
For the third day in a row, the green flag team did not have the presence of its leader Fernando Tatis due to a flu condition. In his place was Pedro López, bench coach.
The Stars took control of the board at the close of the first inning as a result of a single through right field by Yamaico Navarro that drove in Junior Lake from third.
In the fourth, the Giants went ahead with three runs. The first was produced with a line to the central meadow of Carlos Paulino; Melvin Mercedes hit a hard hit for the second, coming safely to the first and on the play they scored two runs.
In the fifth, the francomacorisanos added another run with a double down the line of Moisés Sierra’s third. At the end of that episode, the Stars discounted on the scoreboard with two runs produced by Robinson Canó with a double to the right-field wall.
In the ninth, the Greens tied another three laps with Pimentel’s home run through right field, which left the Giants on the ground.
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