Cats flat vs. Navegantes

Photo courtesy of los Tigres de Aragua

Magallanes 6 at Aragua 1

W: V. Zambrano (2-1, 3.60); L: C. Bailey (2-5, 3.77)
HR: MAG: R. Hidalgo (7).

Los Tigres de Aragua in their attempts to make contact Friday against los Navegantes del Magallanes, managing only 1 run on 7 hits.

Magallanes starter Victor Zambrano (F/A) tossed 6 innings, allowing only 2 hits and walking 3 while striking out 3 to keep the Tigres off the board. Los Navegantes lost no time jumping on Tigres starter Corey Bailey (Chicago Cubs).

With one out, Richard Paz (F/A) and Edgardo Alfonzo (F/A) hit back-to-back singles before Richard Hildago (F/A) put a fly ball over the center field wall to give the visiting team 3.

Bailey would last 4.1 innings, giving up the 3 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk while striking out 1. He'd be replaced by Oswaldo Sosa (Minnesota) who worked 1 inning.

Sosa started the sixth inning by getting Tomas Perez (Chicago White Sox) to fly out before issuing a walk to Jose Leon (F/A). Gustavo Molina (Baltimore) singled, which moved Leon to 3rd. Former Miracle Jesus Merchan (Philadelphia) was inserted in the game as a pinch runner for Leon. Sosa then issued a walk to Ruben Gotay (NY Mets), loading the bases. A single by Paz bought in Merchan. Frank Mata (Minnesota) replaced Sosa on the mound at that point, and would issue a walk to Alfonzo, which forced in Molia. A sac-fly by Hildago brought in Gotay before Mata got Juan Rivera (LA Angels) out on strikes to end the inning.

The Navegantes would go with Juan Pulido (F/A) to start the 7th inning. With one out, Alex Nunez (F/A), Martin Prado (Atlanta) and Luis Maza (LA Dodgers) all recorded line drive singles which brought in Nunez. However, Jose Martinez would line into a double play which ended the Tigre threat.

Pulido, Elio Serrano (F/A) and Clevelan Santeliz (Chicago White Sox) combined to keep Aragua off the board for the remainder of the game. Back-to-back singles and a walk in the 8th loaded the bases for the Cats, but they were unable to convert as duo fly outs ended the inning.

Sosa was charged for 3 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks in 1 inning, Mata allowed 2 walks and struck out 2 in 1.1 innings.

Merchan would finish up 0-for-2 with a run for Magallanes, while Maza would go 2-for-4 with 1 RBI. Luis Rodriguez (San Diego) was 1-for-3 with a walk, and Alex Romero (Arizona) was 0-for2, spliting time with Prado in right field.

The two teams rematch on Saturday, with Sunday and Monday being idle days for the league. Tuesday is, I believe, the All-star game for the League, which is supposed to be played at 7:30 PM. I don't have any specifics on that one yet. The regular season ends December 30th.

I apologize for the delay in this write up, as I was a bit under the weather yesterday.

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