The Cardinals lost the title defense in Venezuelan baseball

Cardenales de Lara, winner of the last two Venezuelan baseball titles, made his debut this Friday with a defeat on the first day of the 2020-21 season, marked by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Twilight team fell 6-4 against Águilas del Zulia at the Antonio Herrera Gutiérrez stadium in Barquisimeto (Lara), with no audience as part of the biosecurity measures.

In the other game of the day, Leones del Caracas beat Tiburones de La Guaira 7-4.

The meeting

Zulia scored a run in the first and ninth inning, and a rally of four in the fifth, while Lara served the seventh and nearly tied for the eighth and ninth.

Third baseman Alí Castillo finished with two RBI and one scored, while left fielder Grenny Cumaná led in another pair for the Zulianos. Pablo Olivares and Daniel Brito, first and second hitter of the lineup, came out with two runs each.

One of Lara’s most prominent hires, Jose Tábata, experienced as a bigleaguer, had to leave the game after receiving a ball hit in the head.

This season has been reduced to 40 games per team in the regular season, which will be played at five licensed bubble venues that can only be accessed after passing coronavirus tests.

The parks in principle do not receive an audience, although the plan is to open the doors later after the government has allowed fans to enter stadiums with a maximum capacity of 30%.

This season also allowed the hiring of players from the majors following the lifting of the Major League Baseball (MLB) veto last season due to US sanctions against Venezuela, the second largest exporter of Major League talent after the Republic. Dominican.