Tigres blast past Caribes, 10-5

Photo courtesy of los Tigres de Aragua

Caribes 5 at Aragua 10

W: Y. Pino (1-0, 0.00); L: A. Herrera (0-1, 11.70)
HR: ORI: E. Alfonzo 2 (5). ARA: W. Romero (2), E. Alfonzo (1).

Los Tigres de Argua continued their hitting streak Saturday against los Caribes de Anzoategui, pounding out 10 runs on 17 hits.

Rosman Garcia (Baltimore) took the start for the Tigres, limiting Caribes to only 2 hits over four innings while striking out 4.

The Cats got on the board first in the bottom of the 2nd inning, roughing up free agent Alex Herrera. Hector Gimenez (Tampa Bay) and Willie Romero (F/A) lead off with back-to-back singles. Luis Maza (LA Dodgers) reached on a force attempt when Caribe's 2nd baseman Jonathan Herrera (Colorado) misplayed the ball. With the bases load, Martin Prada (Atlanta) drove a ground ball to center field to score two. Raul Chavez (Pittsburgh) used a sac-bunt to move the pair of runners around before Alberto Callaspo (Kansas City) sent a grounder to left field to score the second pair.

Edgardo Alfonzo (Texas) homered in the bottom of the 3rd to tag another run onto the Tigres total.

Caribes answered in the top of the fourth, when Eliezar Alfonzo (San Francisco) went yard over the left field wall.

Singles to Maza and Prado in the bottom of the 4th prompted the Caribes to try a pitching change, bringing Jose Rojas (Cincinnati) onto the mound. Rojas would walk Chavez to load the bases. Callaspo brought in Maza with a single out to right, and an Alfonzo sac fly plated Prado to give the Cats a 7-1 lead.

Yohan Pino (Minnesota) worked the 5th and 6th inning for the Tigres, allowing no hits or walks, and striking out 1. Jose Guanchez (F/A) would likewise keep Caribes off the board in the 7th.

The bottom of the 7th saw Willie Romero hit one over the left field wall. Following a Maza ground out, Prado walked. Chevez hit into a ground out that took Prado out at 2nd, but Callaspo then doubled to bring in Chavez, making it 9-1 Caribes.

With Ryan Maldonado (NY Mets) on the mound for the top of the 8th, Andres Torres (Detroit) would single. Following a strike out to Herra. Maldonado then walked Juan Francia and Rico Washington (St Louis) to load the bases. Alfonzo then hit his second yarder of the game for a grand slam. The Tigres then brought in former Miracle Victor Moreno (Baltimore) to finish out the game.

In the bottom of the 8th, Cedeno singled and after 2 outs, moved to 2nd on a Gimenez fly ball to right. Romero's fly to center would plate him to finish off the Tigres scoring.

The Tigres remain at home taking on Margarita on Sunday for a 5 PM, AST game, and rematching against Caribes on Monday for a 6:30 AST game.

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Tigres de Aragua

Possibly the longest line in Twins history showed up Saturday for the start individual game ticket sales for the 2008 spring training season. More than 500 fans were waiting in line when tickets went on sale at 9:00 AM.

For those that came late, there was a 2-hour wait. Only the game vs. the Yankees on March 9th sold out on Saturday.

Tickets for Minnesota Twins Grapefruit League games are available at the Hammond Stadium boxoffice, online at twinsbaseball.com, or by calling 1-800-33-TWINS.

The Twins' 2008 Spring Training home opener will take place at Hammond Stadium on Friday, February 29 (7:05 p.m. EST) against the 2007 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.

Pitchers and catcher report on February 17th, with full squad workouts starting on February 22nd.