In a day of pure rain, with only five games held, Santiago de Cuba divided honors today against Matanzas and kept the tip of the LXII National Baseball Series, which tomorrow will drop the curtains of its twelfth particular subseries.

The stands of the Guillermón Moncada stadium could barely get up in the first match, as the Matanzas right-hander Renner Rivero threw a complete game -to seven innings-, to the sound of five jits, four strikeouts and a ticket, to direct the triumph of 4-2 and sign his sixth of the season.

The Matanzas Crocodiles scored a decisive three-run rally in the fourth, supported by five of the nine singles they connected on in the match. There was a double by catcher Andrys Perez. The best at-bat was Ariel Sanchez, who went 3-2 with a homer and a walk.

But in the second hour the Santiago Wasps riposted, and prevailed 6-2 with the first triumph of Jaime Pelegrín, who threw solid relief of 4.0 without allowing unstoppable. For the winners, Euclides Pérez took the ball over the fence.

Thus, the Wasps now exhibit a level of 34-24, which leads and takes 1.5 games ahead of Artemis (31-24), their closest pursuer.

In another game of the date, Villa Clara won 7-1 against Sancti Spiritus in its César Sandino park. Raidel Alfonso, who threw 8.0 innings with no walks and just two jits allowed, had retired 16 men when he allowed Carlos Chavez's home run.

In addition, Guantánamo knocked out Ciego de Ávila 16-6 in seven innings, supported by the wood of Ranger Robert Luis Delgado, who connected on 4-4, including two home runs and a pair of doubles, valid to tow four runs.

And Pinar del Rio defeated Industriales 4-3 at the Coloso del Cerro, where slugger Yasmani Tomás, who has enrolled in the professional leagues of the United States and Mexico, and hopes to rejoin the Lions team to show that he can be summoned to the Cuba team for the Central Caribbean Games in San Salvador.

The Isla de la Juventud-Camagüey, Las Tunas-Mayabeque, Holguín-Artemisa and Granma-Cienfuegos duels were suspended due to rain.

(Taken from ACN)