Jesus David Castellano / @_JDCastellano
Bravos de Margarita ended a streak of four consecutive defeats, defeating the Águilas del Zulia 7-5 this Tuesday in the second and last of the series at the Luis Aparicio “El Grande” Stadium in Maracaibo.
Alexi Amarista opened the score for the island team in the third inning, hitting a line drive double to left field that brought Breyvic Valera to the plate. However, the advantage was short-lived, given that in the bottom of the fourth inning, Luis Castro hit José Pirela by hitting a triple and then scored with a grounder for a forced out in second base by Eduardo Torrealba.
Ramón Flores tied it again in the fifth with a ground ball to short third ground that allowed Gorkys Hernández to score and one inning later, the lead came with an RBI triple by José Alexander Martínez and a sacrifice fly by Breyvic Valera, who in the seventh brought Flores with a ground ball to first, followed by a single to short stops by Gorkys that rubberized ‘Tilín’ Martínez.
Final con drama
For their part, the Eagles scored in the eighth inning, the result of a two-run home run by Andrés Chaparro throughout center field; his third of the semifinal, and in the ninth, Alí Castillo drove in the fifth with a single against Darién Núñez, who after one out was involved in a great threat from the locals, but resolved by forcing ‘Chappy’; which represented the race of leaving on the field, to failing with a double play on route 6443.
However, the victory went to Ulises Joaquín (1-0), the defeated Emilio Márquez (1-1) and Darién Núñez scored his first save of the semifinal. Gorkys Hernández went 2-for-6 with a double, scored and RBI, ‘Tilín’ Martínez was 2-for-4 with two runs and a RBI, while Amarista hit a double and a single in four at-bats, with one home run.
Bravos will now travel to Barquisimeto to play two challenges against Cardenales de Lara and the Águilas del Zulia will rest to travel to Caracas and see action against Navegantes del Magallanes at the “Simón Bolívar” Monumental Stadium.
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