Cardinals beat Tigres and get first ticket to Final Series in LVBP

With a beating over Tigres de Aragua, Cardenales de Lara reaches the Final Series, while Bravos de Margarita seeks second place in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
CARACAS — With an attack of 16 hits and clusters of five and nine runs, the Cardinals of Lara beat the Tigres de Aragua 17-7 on Monday, to seal their ticket to the Final Series, their seventh in the last nine seasons, in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.
The Cardinals attacked early with five runs in the first inning and added nine in the fourth, heading for their tenth win against three losses in the Round Robin to go to their 20th Final, since their first in the 1975-1976 season.
Adrián Almeida (3-1) scored the victory, with the support of four relievers. The quintet received 12 hits from the Tigers. Ben Holmes (1-2), left-handed like Almeida, was defeated by conceding eight runs, five of them unearned.
Aragua took a 1-0 lead to open the game, but Lara responded with five scores at the end. Ildemaro Vargas walked, Gorkys Hernández achieved an infield hit with a bunt on the mound. Harold Castro bunted, the third baseman picked up the ball and threw from memory to an unguarded initial. Vargas and Gorkys scored.
Later, a single by Danry Vásquez, a double by Hernán Pérez and a two-run hit by Alí Sánchez would arrive to crown the rally. In the fourth, with the score 8-2, Lara would score nine runs, his second big run of the match to seal the victory.
BRAVOS TAKES SECOND TICKET TO FINAL
In Valencia, Bravos de Margarita deployed a 19-hit offensive and defeated Navegantes del Magallanes 10-5, to be close to their first Final Series.
The team led by José Moreno achieved its eighth victory in 13 games played in the Round Robin, to consolidate itself in second place in the classification table, with 2.5 games ahead of the Águilas del Zulia and 3.0 against the Buque.
Bravos, in the worst scenario (if they lose the three remaining duels of the All Against All), would only be left out of the pennant series if the raptors win the last four duels of the stage.
Meanwhile, the filibusters need to win the three remaining matches in the phase, and wait for a series of results, to force an eventual extra game.
Alexi Amarista went 2-for-6 with a home run, two runs scored and one RBI, to add to his postseason production.
Eight of the nine starters in the Braves lineup had at least one hit, and six of them had at least doubles (José “Tilín” Martínez 5-3, Amarista, Juan Santana 5-3, Carlos Pérez 5-3, Rayder Ascanio 5-4 and Herlis Rodríguez 3-2).