Winter League Update for 1/11/2010

In Venezuela: On Thursday Hernan Iribarren entered the game as a pinch runner and scored the winning run in Caracas' 4-3 win over Zulia.

On Sunday, he started in center field and went 0-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the 7th.

At 6-4, Caracas trails first place Magallanes by one game in the round robin portion of the VWL playoffs.

In the Dominican Republic:

• On Thursday, Carlos Gomez entered as a pinch hitter and went 1-for-2 in Escogido's 7-5, 11 inning loss to Cibao.
• On Friday, Gomez went 0-for-4 in Escogido's 9-1 loss to Licey.
• On Saturday, Gomez went 0-for-4 again in Escogido's 3-1 win over Este.
• On Sunday, Gomez went 2-for-4 with a double and drove in a run in Escogido's 7-1 win over Este.

At 7-6, Escogido is two games behind 9-4 Cibao for first place in the round robin portion of the playoffs.

In Mexico:

• On Thursday, Luis Cruz went 1-for-4 in Culiacan's 4-1 win over Mazatlan.
• On Saturday, Cruz went 0-for-3 in a 5-3 victory.
• On Sunday, Cruz went 0-for-4 and Culiacan lost 2-1 in 10 innings. 

With the win on Sunday, Mazatlan eliminated Culican 4-3 in their best of seven series.

In Puerto Rico:

• Efrain Nieves pitched in relief on Saturday, but allowed hits to both batters he faced before being removed. Both batters eventually scored.
• Martin Maldonado had the game of his life on Friday, going 3-for-3 with a walk, two home runs, four runs scored and five RBI. He went 0-for-1 on Saturday, but still lifted his PWL line to .189/.295/.358.

The Puerto Rican regular season ends on Wednesday. At 25-13, Arecibo (Nieves) has already clinched first place in the standlings, and leads Caguas and Carolina by six games. Mayaguez (Maldonado, Hiram Burgos) is 9.5 games back at 16-23.