Pitching, defense and timely hitting form a mixture that rarely fails in the sport of baseball. And the Licey Tigers gave faith, once again, in their 1-0 win over the Estrellas Orientales on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in the final series of the fall-winter baseball tournament.
PITCHING.- Five hits and three walks was all the Stars’ offense could achieve against five blue pitchers, led by Esmil Rogers who worked the first six scoreless innings. Important was the out made by Jonathan Aro with two runners on base and two outs in the first part of the seventh inning when he retired Gustavo Núñez with a fly out into the foul zone by third baseman Ronny Mauricio. Lifetime saves leader Jairo Asencio retired the ninth inning of one, two, and three with two groundouts and a flyout.
DEFENSE.- The Tigers’ defense was handled without errors, which allowed their pitchers a good outlet. A couple of plays stood out in the outfield that were left in the hands of center fielder Emilio Bonifacio and left fielder Mel Rojas Jr.
TIMELY BATTING.- With two outs at the end of the fourth inning and with Rojas Jr. running second base (he reached on an error by shortstop Núñez), Sergio Alcántara, who was 0-for-9 with 5 strikeouts in the series, he doubled to the left-field line off a pitch from Domingo Robles, which produced the only run of the game.