SPAIN – A pair of aces are just hard to beat.

Marlins Puerto Cruz rode the arms of the best 1-2 pitching tandem in the Spanish League to extend their winning streak to 12 games with two lopsided victories against the winless Valencia Astros last Saturday. The lowly Astros (0-11) dropped their 11th consecutive game this season.

Leslie Nacar retired all 18 batters he faced in a 10-0 rout in the first game of a doubleheader. The big right-hander fanned nine over six perfect innings to improve his record to 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA. The Astros tagged Marlins closer Audie Nunez for two hits in the final inning to foil the no-hit bid.

The Tenerife club took a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI double by player/coach Nestor Perez Jr., and pushed the lead to 4-0 with a three-run third featuring a steal home by Ricardo Rodiguez. An inning later, the Marlins sent 10 men to the plate in a five-run outburst to seal the win.

Norman Cowes (0-3) was pinned with the loss after giving up nine runs in just 3 1/3 innings.

Speedy leadoff man Daniel Sanchez hit a pair of triples and the four-time defending Spanish champion broke open a competitive game with a late seven-run rally to beat the Astros 11-1 in the twinbill finale.

Valencia starter Jorge Gomez held the potent Marlins’ offense at bay for three scoreless innings, and carried a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth before running into trouble. Perez, who leads the league with eight doubles, notched another RBI two-base hit to tie the score at 1-1.

The Marlins touched Gomez for three more scores in the fifth and torched reliever Luis Galicia for six hits and seven runs in only 1 1/3 innings to end the game prematurely after seven innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Granados (4-0) tossed three-hit ball over seven innings and gave up an unearned run to remain unbeaten on the season.

FC BARCELONA EDGES BASEBALL NAVARRA
Homer Baez captured his fifth win and FC Barcelona staged a late rally to edge Baseball Navarra 2-1 Saturday in the opening round of a two-game set. However, the series finale on Sunday was postponed due to wet weather.

Navarra (1-9), which entered the weekend matchup with a lifeless offense that had tallied just eight runs in their first nine ballgames, took a surprising 1-0 lead off the Barcelona starter in the second inning.

Baez (5-0) hit Alberto Espanol with an inside pitch to put a runner on first with one out. The left-hander recorded the second out of the inning on an infield pop-up before giving up back-to-back singles to Sergio Diaz and Jaime Miro to fall behind early.

Navarra starter Juan J. Lopez escaped a jam in the bottom of the same frame to preserve the one-run lead. Orlando Diaz started the scoring threat with a hit up the middle, and Jorge Miqueleiz followed with an infield hit. Both runners moved up one base on a sacrifice bunt, but Lopez recovered to retire the next two batters to end the inning

Barcelona’s offense finally came alive in the seventh with a pair of runs off Lopez. Pinch-hitter Jordi Juaneda opened the game-deciding inning with a single to right field before getting replaced by pinch-runner Andres Gimeno. But after Gimeno was erased at second on a fielder’s choice by Albert Diaz, it looked as if the Navarra pitcher might move closer to his first win of the season.

However, the next hitter – leadoff man Emmanuel Febles – tripled to right field to tie the score, and later scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch to send Navarra to their ninth loss in 10 games.

VIGO HALCONES SWEEPS PAST EL LLANO
Roman Carrasco notched his first win of the season and the Vigo Halcones topped El Llano 4-1 in the opening game en route to the doubleheader sweep last weekend. The Spanish League newcomer nipped El Llano 5-4 in the second encounter.

The Halcones (8-4) struck early on Michel San Gil’s run-scoring single in the first to grab a 1-0 lead. Juan J. Lopez added an RBI double two innings later to make the score 2-0, and Carlos Millan started the sixth with a triple to right field and scampered home on the same play on a throwing error by second baseman Ruben Fente to push the lead to 3-0.

El Llano finally managed to get on the board in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring hit by Juan Alonso to cut the lead to 3-1. However, the visitors tallied another run in the ninth on Alejandro Carrillo’s RBI groundout to seal the victory.

Carrasco (1-0) struck out eight and scattered one run over six innings to pick up the win.

El Llano plated three fifth-inning scores in the second game to build a 4-1 lead before the Halcones tallied four unanswered runs to claim a 5-4 comeback win.

Gabriel Sanso led off the third with a single to left field and scored on an RBI double by Emilio Perez to give El Llano a 1-0 cushion. But Vigo pulled even in the fourth when Carrillo drove in Angel Virgues with the tying run.

El Llano capitalized on two defensive miscues to score a trio of runs on just one hit to take back the lead in the bottom of the same inning. However, powered by run-scoring hits by San Gil an Virgues, Vigo tied the game with a three-run eighth before completing the sweep on a game-winning hit by Franklin Tavarez an inning later.

Tavarez (1-0) pitched one-hit ball over four scoreless relief innings to nail own his first win of the season.

SANT BOI WHIPS SAN INAZIO TWICE
Marc Carrillo had five hits and Oscar Alvarez continued to enjoy success on the mound to lead Sant Boi to a 9-2 win against San Inazio last Saturday. The visitors routed San Inazio 12-3 in the second game of a doubleheader to move into sole possession of second place.

Carrillo, who is currently seventh in the league batting race with a .415 average, homered and stroked a pair of doubles to help Sant Boi improve to 9-2 on the season. The third baseman also drove in four runs and has 15 RBIs on the year.

Alvarez (4-2), who registered seven strikeouts, scattered six hits and a pair of runs over seven innings to win his fourth game in six decisions. Fidel Mane (2-1) was charged the setback after allowing five runs and nine hits in six innings of work.

The second matchup was a one-run affair until Sant Boi plated six runs in the seventh and went on to capture a 12-3 runaway victory. Jose E. Cruz (6-0) picked up his league-leading sixth win of the year in the blowout win.

Rafael Rivas and Yaeko Vazquez collected three RBIs apiece, and Carrillo homered as Sant Boi completed the twinbill sweep.

Photos by Jose Yanes (Marlins) and Diego Lazaro (FC Barcelona)

Tags: Spain