Los Toros del Este, armed with the most stable pitching rotation in the league in two years and a devastating offense, will travel to Santiago on Saturday to face Águilas Cibaeñas at six in the afternoon in the “B” Serie semifinals.
The leader of the national and Caribbean champions, Lino Rivera, announced that on Saturday he will open the Panamanian Paolo Espino (2-3, 3.72), who proved to be more efficient in the so-called “Death Valley”, where he registers an efficiency of 2 , 10 in five starts and limited to local ones at an average of 1.96.
Raúl Valdez (2-2, 3.20) will start second at Francisco Micheli, in La Romana, while Jenrry Mejía, with a 2-0 record and an ERA of 1.84), will climb the mound in the third and Carlos Hernández in the room.
The Cuban (2-1, 2.45) would be the call to box if the series agreed at 7-4 extends further, as everything seems to indicate.
To the excellent pitching staff, Toros added five proven arms of six players they chose in the Lidom draw with the available members of the eliminated teams Capitale Leones del Escogido and Tigres del Licey.
It’s about Steven Wilson, a formidable close for the Lions, with whom he had a record of 2-0, 2.40 and 5 saves in the same number of opportunities; Jairo Asencio, the historical leader of rescues in Dominican baseball, returns temporarily to his old club.
Also to Fernando Rodney, who was presented in his best version, supported by his numbers. Nine innings, with only three shots, an equal number of walks, a WHIP of 0.67 and the opposition on average only .103.
They will share the works of the latest recordings, mainly with Fernando Abad, who is gorgeous this season. The left-handed veteran allowed three shots, went 11 innings, missed the plate and was hit .086.
The other selected pitchers were Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who was already wearing that uniform in the 2014-2015 season and Alfredo Simón, both from the Tigers.
The other was the receiver Yermín Mercedes, a pure hitter, will give more strength to a team that has no weaknesses. Yermin, who hit .276 and an astronomical .393 with runners in the scoring position, leading Licey with 16 RBI.
He is also motivated to play for the first time with his home team, where he still lives.
The team will strengthen the strategic position of the well-known Fernando Flores, who was in the final against Loso Tigres last year. The Mexican mask will arrive in the country today..
“Yermín fills a gap in terms of capture and improves our chances of running,” Toros general manager Raymond Abreu said at the end of the project.
His inclusion will make it a scarier offense led by Yamaivo Navarro, the league’s biggest scorer with an average of .361, in addition to two homers, 13 peripheral statistics produced and brilliant (.444 OBP, SLG .482 and .926 OPS) .
The band’s table is completed by Miguel Andújar, Gary Sánchez, Yasiel Puig, Peter O´Brien, Yeimer Candelario and Yordany Valdespín, who is well recovered from the injuries that diminished his participation in this tournament.
Jorge Mateo, Christian Adames and Rubén Sosa are the men who complete a really fierce attack.