Yermín Mercedes pushed two runs and Erick Mejía hit a homer to lead a twelve-hit attack that the Lyceum Tigers bombarded the Cibaeñas Eagles to take the 5-1 victory in the second game of a double day held this Sunday at Cibao Stadium.
Despite the division of honors, the cibaeños obtained their classification in the semifinal series when combining their victory of the first game (3-2) with another one of the Bulls of the East on the Lions of the Chosen one in the capital.
The Eagles (16-13), who are in second place in the tournament halfway through the first round, have already completed their home games and will finish the regular season playing their 30th game another time against the Licey next Tuesday, at the Quisqueya Juan Marichal Stadium.
For the Licey to tie its 11th win of the tournament, with 16 losses, and still keep alive its aspirations to advance to the playoffs, Mercedes shot single and double pair-of-race producers as part of the wake-up call. of the offensive that responded of efficient way and of an excellent pitching that limited the cibaeños to only four hits.
With three games left to celebrate, the Blues are half a game away from the fifth place held by the Lions of the Chosen (14-16) -already without pending matches- and a game and a half from the chamber, where they locate Giants of the Cibao and Eastern Stars, with mark of 13-13.
The team that I finished in fifth place and only two games apart from the quarter will be able to play a mini series for the last ticket to the semifinals.
In the third chapter, Mejía connected his first home run of the tournament to open the scoring in favor of the Licey in front of the sparrow opener Yoanner Negrín.
The blue advantage lasted little more than an out in the closing of the third, when the Eagles tied to a return before the opener Jean Carlos Mejía, with a simple one in the short field of Joan Lagares that towed to Ramón Torres.
Imported receiver Roberto Peña gave a simple producer for the Blues to take the lead again in the fourth inning, and with two more laps in the fifth and one in the seventh sentenced the match.
Mercedes provided the third goal with a single from the left field that pushed Luis Barrera, and Pablo Reis tied the fourth with a ball with the bases full in the fifth.
Mercedes again produced run in the seventh by firing a double that propelled Jorge Bonifacio to the rubber.
At the end of the seventh, the Licey reliever, Hansel Robles, gave two shots to Aneury Tavárez and Rangel Ravelo, which caused the benches of both teams to be emptied in a lawsuit, in which he momentarily forgot the physical distancing stipulated by the tournament’s health protocol, imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Robles completed the match without major setbacks to seal the blue victory.
Mauricio Cabrera won (2-0) in the work of two blank entries of a hit, with two strikeouts and two tickets.
Negrín lost the right (3-3) by tolerating 9 hits and four runs, with a ticket and a punch in four innings and a third.