Junior Lake Stars in Epic Triumph for the Leones del Escogido
A daring hit by Junior Lake from third base in the tenth inning secured a dramatic victory for the Leones del Escogido, who defeated the Toros del Este with a score of 5-4. The exciting Friday game culminated with the Lions leaving their rival on the field and consolidating their good moment in the final stretch of the regular season. The decisive play originated after a touch by Sócrates Brito, which was handled quickly by pitcher Jarlín García. Despite the pitcher’s accurate throw to catcher Tres Barrera, Lake managed to slide his left hand over the plate, avoiding the catcher’s mitt and unleashing the celebration of the scarlet team. The Lions faced the tenth inning with a 4-3 deficit. Freudy Batista, as a ghost runner on second, advanced to third thanks to a bunt by Jonathan Guzmán. Lake was hit by a pitch from Michael Ynoa, stole second base, and a single by Erik González to left field drove in the tying run, as well as placing Lake on third. With this victory, the third consecutive and the sixth in the last seven games, Escogido improves its record to 22-25, remaining in third place in the standings, tied with the Estrellas Orientales and with a lead of one and a half games over Tigres del Licey and Gigantes del Cibao (20-26). Hansel Marcelino (1-0) earned the victory, pitching one inning with a strikeout, while Michael Ynoa (0-1) took the loss, being responsible for the two runs of the tenth inning.Party Development
The Lions took the lead in the first inning against Franklyn Kilomé. Lake negotiated a walk, advanced to second on a single by González, to third on a fly ball by Brito, and scored on a groundout by Yamaico Navarro to first base. The Toros responded in the third inning against Grant Gavin, tying the game with a double by Gilberto Celestino and taking the lead with a run-scoring single by Luis Liberato. In the fifth inning, the Reds loaded the bases with no outs against Anderson Bidó, who was relieved by Jimmy Yacabonis. Brito hit a run-scoring single to tie the game and, subsequently, a ground ball for a double play by Navarro allowed the run that put the score 3-2 in favor of Escogido. The Toros tied the game again in the seventh inning with a solo home run by Jeimer Candelario to left field against Génesis Cabrera.Featured Players
For the Leones, Sócrates Brito went 1-for-4 with two RBIs; Junior Lake went 0-for-3, with a walk and three runs scored; Erik González, 2-for-4 with one driven in, and Jonathan Guzmán, 1-for-3 with one run scored.For the Toros, Jeimer Candelario went 1-4 with a home run, a run scored, and an RBI, while Luis Liberato went 1-4 with two RBIs.
The Lions will travel this Saturday to San Francisco de Macorís, where they will face the Gigantes del Cibao at 5:00 in the afternoon, in another key duel for the classification.
