Tigres pound Caribes with 20 hits, 13 runs

Photo courtesy of los Tigres de Aragua

Aragua 13 at Caribes 2

W: J. Santiago (3-1, 3.00); L: A. Herrera (0-2, 13.50)
HR: ARA: R. Cedeno (2).

Los Tigres de Aragua pounded out 20 hits for 13 runs in route to a blow out victory over Caribes de Anzoategui Friday.

Jose Santiago (NY Mets) picked up his 3rd post season win, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk over 6 innings of work while striking out 3.

With two outs in the first inning, Edgardo Alfonzo (Texas) doubled out to center. Miguel Cabrera (Detroit) singled him in to the give the Cats an early lead.

They added to it in the bottom of the second when Martin Parda (Atlanta) singled and Luis Maza (LA Dodgers) doubled. A sac-fly by Ronny Cedeno (Chicago Cubs) brought in Prado, and a similar hit by Raul Chavez (Pittsburgh) plated Maza.

The Cats would pick up one more in the top of the fourth inning when Cedeno homered over the left field wall.

A double by Rico Washington (St Louis) opened the bottom of the inning for Caribes. Following a ground out to Jose Castillo (Florida), Javier Brito (Arizona) and Jonathan Herrera (Colorado) hit back-to-back singles to give Caribes one run on the board. Alex Requena (F/A) drove in the 2nd run one out later, with a ground ball to center.

Alfonzo and Cabrera both singled in the top of the 5th, followed up by a walk to Willie Romero (F/A) to load the bases. A wild pitch by Alex Herrara (F/A) brought in Alfonzo, while a single plated Cabrera and Romero. A change in pitchers, to Oscar Montero (F/A), resulted in a wild pitch that moved Prado to 2nd. He progressed to 3rd on a Maza ground out, then found his way home on a Chavez single.

The Cats gave the Caribes a break for a couple innings, before turning on the scoring machine in the 8th inning. Alberto Callaspo (Kansas City) singled. Luis Rodriguez (San Diego) reached on a force attempt, and then Alfonzo singled to load the bags. A single by Cabrera brought in one and a double by Prado saw two more runs come home. Maza's single to center plated to Cabrera to make it 12-2, Aragua.

They icing on the cake came in the bottom of the 9th, when Rodriguez would be hit by a pitch to put him on base. Alfonzo singled and one out later, Romero would bring him in with a grounder to left.

Cabrera was 5-for-5 in the contest with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Rodriguez was 0-for-4 with 2 runs and a walk, Maza ws 2-for-5 with 1 run and 1 RBI.

Yohan Pino (Minnesota) worked 2 innings in relief, allowing 1 hit and striking out 1.

The two teams rematch on Saturday. Aragua is idle on Sunday.

Lara was idle on Friday, so the win put the Tigres .5 games ahead of them in the standings. This put the Cats in the finals for their sixth consecutive season.

"This is the first step of our goal, we are going for the title, it is time to celebrate," said Cabrera as the champagne was uncorked.

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