Lions leave the Bulls on the field and stand alone at the top of the Round Robin

SANTO DOMINGO.– In a dramatic encounter that extended to eleven innings, the Leones del Escogido defeated 8-7 the Toros del Este this Sunday at the Quisqueya Juan Marichal stadium, to stay alone in first place in the Todos contra Todos of the LIDOM.

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The victory, achieved after more than four hours of play, placed the national and Caribbean champions with a record of 2-0, while the Toros dropped to 1-1, placing them in second position in the table. The game was decided in the bottom of the eleventh inning, when Junior Lake, placed on second as a ghost runner, scored the winning run after a throwing error by pitcher Janser Lara, following a sacrifice bunt by Erik González on the first pitch of the at-bat. Reliever Alexander Colomé (1-0) earned the victory by retiring the top of the eleventh inning in order, including a strikeout. Lara (0-1) took the loss.

Game Development

The Toros opened the scoring in the first inning with a double by Luis Liberato to left field and a run-scoring single by Bryan De la Cruz, against starting pitcher José Urquidy. In the second episode, the Romanenses extended their lead with consecutive doubles by Bryan Lavastida and Sergio Alcántara, followed by an unstoppable hit by Gilberto Celestino, putting the score at 3-0. However, the Escogido responded in the bottom half with two runs against Aaron Brooks, driven by doubles from Raimel Tapia and José Marmolejos, as well as a productive single by Michael De la Cruz.

The Bulls pulled away again with two runs in the third inning, but the reds staged a four-run rally in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead. In that inning, Erik González drove in two with a double to left field, while Tapia added another two with a single after a walk to Yamaico Navarro and a stolen base.

The Taurine reaction came in the seventh, when they tied the game 6-6 taking advantage of a passed ball with Jeimer Candelario on the third base. Later, both teams scored once more to take the match to extra innings.

Prominent Figures

For the Escogido, Raimel Tapia went 5-3, with two doubles, two RBIs and one run; José Marmolejos, went 5-3, with a double, two RBIs and one run; Erik González, went 5-1, with a double, two RBIs and one run, and Michael De la Cruz, went 3-2, with one RBI, one run and two walks. For the Toros, Troy Johnston hit 5-2, with a double, two RBIs and a walk, while Luis Liberato finished 6-2, with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

Next commitment

The Leones del Escogido will continue their participation in the Round Robin this Monday, when they visit the Gigantes del Cibao at the Julián Javier stadium, in San Francisco de Macorís, starting at 7:15 pm.