Artemisa: Surprising Second Place in National Baseball Series

The surprising team of Artemisa and Matanzas, current runner up, share the second seat of the qualifying stage of the 54th Cuban National Baseball Series after winning their respective games.
TheArtemisa Hunters beat 4-2 Holguin, with offensive highlight by DH Osmel Fraga,one homer and two RBIs- , and the promising lefty Misael Villa achieved his second win of the season and veteran closer Jose Ángel García saved for the fourth time.

In turn, the Matanzas Crocodiles beat 4-2 Las Tunas, supported by solid pitching performance from right-hander Joel Suarez, who allowed only four hits and two earned runs in seven innings.

Now Artemisa and Matanzas appear both in second place with balance of 10 wins and six losses, two games behind the leader Ciego de Avila (12-4), which defeated Granma 4 -3.

Yunier Cano earned his fourth win of the championship despite allowing four hits and one earned run in one and two thirds innings, but he was backed up by Yadir Rabi´s fourth save and first baseman Yorelvis Charles also highlighted with three RBIs.

In Sunday’s other results, Pinar del Rio beat 8-5 Sancti Spiritus, Isla de la Juventuddefeated 5-0 Villa Clara, Camaguey won 14-9 over Mayabeque , Santiago de Cuba surpassed 11-3 Cienfuegos and Guantanamo did the same against Industriales (13-5).