[jksander]

MAY 28, 1963 . . . Juan Ortiz (3-3, 1 SV, 5.07 ERA, 55.0 IP, 36 K’s, 1.71 WHIP) got the start today against Alex Rojas (10-9, 1 SV, 5.05 ERA, 133.2 IP, 65 K’s, 1.84 WHIP). With two outs in the bottom of the first, Holmes and Victor Diaz hit back-to-back doubles to put us up 1-0, Holmes batted in a run in the bottom of the third, and Diaz hit a sac-fly to left field that drove in a third. They picked up a pair of runs in the top of the fourth to keep the game close, but in the bottom of the inning Holmes batted in another run, a single giving us a 4-2 lead. Flores hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth, and then Ortiz drove in another with a double of his own, and this one was starting to open up! Samuel Brisset hit a double that drove in two more, and Victor Diaz hit a single to drive in yet another, sending us into the top of the sixth inning with a 9-2 lead. Samuel Brisset drove in our 10th run of the game in the bottom of the sixth, and in the bottom of the seventh Juan Flores hit a single that drove in another pair, giving us a ten run lead on the visiting Gators. Ortiz completed his game, and we came out of this with a 12-2 victory, finally snapping us out of our scoring slump!

Ortiz improved to 4-3 with a 4.64 ERA, allowing nine hits, two walks and two earned runs while striking out eight batters, tying his season high! We outhit the Gators 22-9, including NINE doubles as a team! Samuel Brisset had three hits (all doubles) to score two runs and bat in three, while Logan Holmes hit four times for a run and two RBIs. Juan Flores, batting seventh, hit three times for two runs and three RBIs as well, becoming the fourth player on our team with 30 or more runs batted in this season.
 
MAY 29, 1963 . . . Jose Guzman (8-5, 4.49 ERA, 124.1 IP, 52 K’s, 1.63 WHIP) started tonight against Juan Ruiz (8-5, 1 SV, 3.15 ERA, 122.2 IP, 55 K’s, 1.42 WHIP). Guantanamo got on the board with a run in the top of the first, but we tied it up on a groundout by Holmes to first that scored Castro from third. An RBI double put them back on top 2-1 in the top of the third, but Victor Diaz tied it up with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Victor Santos hit a shot that rolled to the center field wall, deep enough for him to reach third and drive in two runs, giving us a 4-2 lead heading into the top of the sixth. Victor Diaz hit a triple that scored a run in the bottom of the seventh, and Santos brought him home with a single, though he was picked off trying to extend it into a double. We added another in the bottom of the eighth, Castro hitting a single to drive Botello in to make it 7-2, and Guzman got us through the remainder with ease, finishing this one as a five-run win.

Guzman improved to 9-5 with a 4.32 ERA despite allowing 11 hits tonight -- he walked, five, struck out five and only allowed two earned runs. We outhit them 13-11, led by Jose Castro with four hits two runs and an RBI. Holmes hit three times with two runs and an RBI, while Diaz, Santos and Flores each hit twice. Holmes is currently hitting .458 through 37 games and 131 at-bats, but still does not show up as a “Qualified” player for the batting crown race -- but regardless, with his dozen doubles and 31 RBIs this year, he’s been a huge reason why we’ve stayed in the race for the CL West crown. We currently hold a 28-22 record and lead the division by half a game over Santa Clara, with Cienfuegos on a real skid at 26-23, a game and a half out of first.

MAY 30, 1963 . . . Manny Hernandez (7-3, 3.77 ERA, 76.1 IP, 40 K’s, 1.52 WHIP) got to start today against Jose Ramirez (5-8, 5.84 ERA, 126.1 IP, 45 K’s, 1.81 WHIP) as we hope for a sweep againt the Guantanamo Gators. Guantanamo got out to a quick-hitting start, placing runners in scoring position thanks to a single and a double, and with one out they hit an RBI double that drove in two runs, and they scored two more on another two-bagger. By the time Hernandez finally got the third out we trailed 5-0, and it was just the middle of the first. Logan Holmes drove in a run in the bottom of the inning with a groundout to first, but we couldn’t add to it and the Gators added a run in the top of the fifth to get their lead back to five runs. Jose Guzman came in to pitch with one out in the top of the seventh, striking out two batters in a row to get us out of the inning safely. In the bottom of the inning Cantimori got himself a hit up the middle, driving in a run with a single, and Guzman did the same, cutting the lead to three runs with an RBI single himself, though Gonzalez then hit into a double play to stifle the rally. Guzman got us through the top of the eighth with the score unchanged, and we got three hits in a row to start the bottom of the eighth, including an RBI single by Victor Diaz to cut their lead to two! Victor Santos got to first safely, and their throw to home was off, allowing another run to score, and a Juan Flores double with one out drove in both the tying and go-ahead runs! Cantimori got another hit through the gap into center field, and a Guzman sac-fly scored antother run to give us a two-run lead heading into the top of the ninth, with Aguirre coming in for the save attempt. He struck out their first batter with a curveball, got the next man to bat out to first, and the third hit one straight to Diaz in center field, ending this one as a come-from-behind 8-6 victory!

Hernandez gave us 6.1 innings with seven hits, two walks, three strikeouts and six earned runs, blowing his ERA up to 3.05 as a Hunter. But Guzman came in and got us the win, improving to 10-5 with a 4.27 ERA, striking out a pair and allowing just one hit! Aguirre picked up his fifth save with a one strikeout effort, keeping his ERA a solid 4.26. We outhit Guantanamo 12-8, led by Flores with three hits, two runs and two RBIs, while Cantimori picked up three hits and batted in a run.

Next up: a three game home set againt the Nuevitas Naturals (28-23). We now lead the CL West with a 29-22 record, a game up on Santa Clara (28-23) and 2.5 games up on Cienfuegos (26-24).