Venezuelan League Championship Series: Navegantes del Magallanes 11, Cardenales de Lara 9

Once again for Lara, the game got off to a very promising start as Luis Jimenez slammed a solo homer off Magallanes starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx in the top of the first inning. But everything quickly collapsed there. The three innings consisted of the Navegantes absolutely bombarding Lara pitching. Lara starter Raul Rivero lasted just 1.1 innings allowing 4 runs on a solo homer by Endy Chavez and a 3-run shot by Carlos Maldonado. Juan Rivera then homered off Yohan Pino, a 2-run shot as Magallanes opened up a 7-2 lead. But you have to give the Cardenales credit for refusing to give up. They battled back for 3 runs in the 4th on RBI singles by Paulo Orlando (a bunt single in an RBI situation!) and Cesar Izturis, and an RBI double by Yangervis Solarte. But the onslaught continued in the bottom of the frame as Pablo Sandoval slammed a 2-run homer and Hector Gimenez followed two batters later with a solo shot to make it 10-5, and an RBI double by Maldonado in the 5th made it 11-5.

While the Lara pitching was a disaster, the Magallanes pitching was not that much better. Austin Bibens-Dirkx did not have the type of Game 7 start that he would have liked, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits in 3 innings. Deolis Guerra then followed 2 shutout innings. But then suddenly everything changed. The Lara bullpen turned itself around, tossing shutout ball in the last 3 innings, including 1.1 scoreless frames by ex-big leaguer and Rays minor leaguer Romulo Sanchez. And the Navegantes’ bullpen began to wilt. A 2-run homer by Luis Jimenez, his second of the game, off of Fabio Castro made it an 11-7 game. Yoel Hernandez managed to work around a hit to toss scoreless ball the rest of the 6th, and then ex-Rays minor leaguer Jean Machi slammed the door for 1.2 innings, tossing perfect ball with 3 strikeouts. Machi was the only pitcher in the game who could truly say he had a great game. The game was 11-7 entering the 9th with Enrique Gonzalez on the mound. But Gonzalez walked Luis Valbuena to begin his outing before Oswaldo Navarro drilled a 2-run home run to make it 11-9. The Cardenales were a bloop and a blast away from an unbelievable comeback. Roberto Perez followed with a bloop- but Elvis Andrus was able to make the catch. And then even in a game ruled by hitting, pitching reigned supreme at the end, with Gonzalez striking out Tomas Perez and Paulo Orlando to end the game as Magallanes won 11-9. Machi earned the win despite not being the pitcher of record in the game because everyone else was so bad, and Rivero took the loss. Magallanes came back from a 3-2 deficit to win the final two games of the series, and although it was ugly at the end, they came through when it mattered most and will move on to the Caribbean Series.

Venezuelan Winter League Championship Series: Cardenales de Lara 3, Navegantes de Magallanes 0

This game was a pitcher’s duel all the way, but Lara pushed 3 runs across in the 5th inning against Gustavo Chacin and the Navegantes to come away with the win. Chacin had gotten off to a great start, striking out 5 while allowing just 1 hit in 4 innings to begin the game, but Luis Valbuena quickly ended that, slamming a solo homer to put Lara ahead 1-0. A Gabriel Noriega RBI double and a Yangervis Solarte RBI single made the score 3-0 Cardenales. Valbuena is hitting .333 out of the 5-hole for Lara in the VWL Postseason with 3 home runs, seeming to come up huge time and again. Chacin, meanwhile, struck out 6 while walking none but could not get out of the 5th inning. Victor Marte of the St. Louis Cardinals followed him with 2.2 hitless innings, striking out 4 while walking 1, and Magallanes pitching actually struck out 14 in the game, but it would be in a losing effort. Longtime Chunichi Dragons (Japanese Central League) pitcher Maximo Nelson went 5 shutout innings for Lara for the win, followed by 1.2 scoreless frames with 2 strikeouts by Romulo Sanchez, the former Rays minor leaguer (and big leaguer for the Yankees and Pirates), and perfect work by Jose Jimenez, Yoervis Medina, and Victor Moreno over the last 2.1 innings to end it. Other notables in the game included Elvis Andrus, who went 1 for 2 with 2 walks for Magallanes, but Pablo Sandoval behind him didn’t give him any help, going 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Ex-big leaguer Eliezer Alonzo (who was once traded for future Rays minor leaguer Matt Parker) also went 2 for 4 for the Navegantes, who actually out-hit Lara 7 to 5 but could not make their hits as timely. This is a best-of-nine series and is going to last quite a while, especially after Lara and Magallanes have split the first two games.

Dominican Winter League Postseason: Estrellas de Oriente 7, Aguilas Cibaenas 3

Extremely tough game as they blew a 3-0 lead after 5 innings by allowing 3 runs in the 6th and 4 in the 7th. Lorenzo Barcelo struck out 7 across 5.1 innings for Cibaenas but came apart in that 6th inning. Among the ex-Rays, Manny Ramirez went 1 for 4 with a double, a walk, and a run scored while Hector Luna went 0 for 4 with a walk.

Toros del Este 5, Leones de Escogido 4

Julio Lugo and Willy Aybar were hitting so well that the Leones moved them up to second and fifth in their lineup respectively. That did not go so well. Lugo went just 0 for 5 with a Golden Sombrero while Aybar went 0 for 3 with a walk. They provided no help as Escogido nearly came back from a 5-0 deficit. The Houston Astros’ Fernando Abad was excellent for Este, going 5 innings allowing just an unearned run on 4 hits, striking out 7 while walking 1.

Sanchez came up huge for Lara only to see his performance go for nought in the game. (Credit: Flickr user tjperr)

Venezuelan Winter League Playoffs: Navegantes de Magallanes 4, Cardelanes de Lara 3

The Cardelanes were able to come back to tie the game after trailing 3-1, thanks in no small part to Romulo Sanchez, who was dominant in the 4th and 5th innings, going 1.2 innings allowing just 1 hit, striking out 3 and recording his other two outs via groundouts. Even after a miserable season at Triple-A Durham for the Rays in 2012 (6.31 ERA), more pitching like that is going to get Sanchez another invite to a big league camp somewhere. However, you get the feeling that Magallanes is going to win it all in the VWL. The Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants played each other in the 2010 World Series, but key players from each team, Elvis Andrus and Pablo Sandoval, are teammates for the Navegantes and hitting out of their minds. In this game, Sandoval hit a go-ahead home run in the 8th inning while Andrus went 3 for 4 with a run scored. Jean Machi nailed down the save for Magallanes, working around a walk in the 9th with 2 groundballs and a pop-out to end the game. Erold Andrus, whose playing time over the past month for the Navegantes has been almost unbelievably sparse, went 0 for 4. Good luck to him rediscovering his stroke because as we saw earlier in the VWL season, he has the ability to be another key contributor in the Magallanes lineup to pair with Sandoval and the other Andrus.

Leones del Caracas 4, Aguilas del Zulia 1

The Leones del Caracas have to be asking themselves why they didn’t give Daniel Mayora earlier. Mayora, who didn’t receive regular playing time until his ex-Durham teammate Henry Wrigley went home for the winter, went 1 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored for Caracas and is hitting a solid .286 for the Leones so far in the VWL playoffs. One other little-known ex-Ray that we have never mentioned before got into the game for Zulia as Deivis Mavarez went a third of an inning for the Aguilas, allowing a hit. Mavarez, 26, was a little right-hander in the Rays system from 2007 to 2011 after getting released from the Astros organization and showed some promise, reaching as high as High-A in his first season in the US in 2009, but he saw his career top out there as he managed just a 61-51 strikeout to walk ratio in 81.2 High-A innings.