El campeón del mundo no se da por vencido // The world champion does not give up [ESP/ENG]
The Venezuelan national team got the job done, defeating Germany (3-7) in its fourth match of the championship, which allows it to reach the last day of the first round with a chance of qualifying.
Both the Germans and the Venezuelans came into this game with one win and two losses, obliged to win to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the Super Round, a pressing situation that provided us with a beautiful ball game.
Line-ups // Line-ups
As expected, manager Carlos García again made some adjustments to the lineup, taking out catcher David García and bringing in Yohandy Rea, as well as changing the positions of the batters from the fifth to the ninth bat. The chosen starter this time was José Conopoima, who did not have a good opening and was taken out of the game in the first inning.
Acciones // Actions
Once again the Venezuelan starter did not do his job, a worrying situation, but unlike the two previous games, this time manager Carlos Garcia took him out in time and avoided what could have been a rally of several runs.
The Vinotinto offense scored the first two runs with doubles, the first to connect the bat was Michael Chirinos to right, then Amador Arias brought him to the plate with a double to left and Jesús Chirinos joined the two-pad hit party by connecting the ball to center.
Oscar Abreu, who had entered to relieve with bases loaded and two outs in the first inning, remained solid on the mound, in the second episode he allowed one run, while in the third he got a clean sheet and in the fourth he retired a batter before being taken out of the game.
In the fourth inning the Venezuelan bats turned on again, Jesús Chirinos connected his seventh double of the championship, Kenedy Corona got on with a strong line drive to third, Ezequiel Alfonzo drove in the third run with a double, while César Ortega brought in one more with a hit to right, the fifth came thanks to Yoandy Rea, while Michael Chirinos helped by the confusion of the shortstop and left fielder to take the ball drove in the sixth.
In the fifth episode Germany cut the score, Paul Wittmann brought in the second run for his team with an inside-the-box grounder, while the third run came thanks to the lack of control of Venezuelan pitcher Carlos Naveda, who lost count of how many wild pitches there were, but it was really between two and four. Faced with this situation, he again appealed to the bullpen and brought in Carlos Valero who put out the fire left by his compatriot.
Venezuela discounted in the bottom of that episode with a curious play, since Michael Chirinos who was in the anteroom came home when he saw that Carlos Mendoza was caught in his attempt to steal, because the Germans had not yet touched him to put him out the run was valid.
From this point on, the pitchers controlled the batters and we would not see any more scores in the game.
Breve análisis // Brief analysis
Este es el partido donde te preguntas mil y una vez: ¿por qué hoy si sale Carlos García a sacar a los pitcher apenas se ponen en situación de peligro y en los juegos anteriores no?. Realmente ya no me enojo con él, por estar acostumbrado a ver su forma de leer el juego cuando era manager de los Navegantes del Magallanes, pero es algo que por más que lo veas no puedes evitar hacerte la misma pregunta. Punto alto para García porque hoy entendió a la perfección lo que pedía cada situación y puntos altos al bullpen, además de esto la ofensiva sigue respondiendo, lo que sí preocupa es la falta de control de los abridores.
Debido a la derrota anterior ante Colombia la situación aún es complicada para avanzar, para conseguir meterse entre los tres primeros del grupo deben ligar que los alemanes le hagan el favor de derrotar a los colombianos y ganarle a Chinese Taipei, ya que un empate solo beneficia a los vecinos.