Estrellas Orientales Score 24 Runs in Two Games to Take LIDOM Lead
Estrellas Orientales beat Gigantes del Cibao 12-6, hit three home runs and scored 24 runs in two games to take the early 2026-27 LIDOM lead.
World Baseball News Editorial Team , 2 min read 
The Estrellas Orientales have moved to the top of the Dominican winter league after scoring 24 runs in two games against the Gigantes del Cibao. Their 12-6 victory in San Francisco de Macorís on Sunday, October 25, completed a two-game sweep and lifted Estrellas to 5-2 in the early 2026-27 LIDOM season.
Sunday’s win was emphatic rather than straightforward. Estrellas fell behind 3-2 in the first inning, then answered with three runs in the second and eventually pulled away behind home runs from Raimel Tapia, Leo Bernal and César Prieto. They finished with 13 hits and their third consecutive victory.
Tapia answers an early Gigantes rally
Estrellas struck first with two runs in the opening inning, but Noelvi Marte’s two-run homer and Jefferson Rojas’ RBI double put Gigantes ahead 3-2. The lead lasted only until the next frame.
Harold Ramírez tied the game with a run-scoring single in the second before Tapia launched a two-run homer to right field. Aaron Schunk added an RBI single in the third to make it 6-3.
With starter Enny Romero unable to finish the first inning, reliever Geison Urbáez gave Estrellas the stability they needed. Urbáez worked four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out two, and earned the win.
Gigantes closed to 6-5 in the seventh, but Estrellas responded with four runs in the eighth. Bernal homered, Ramírez added another run-scoring hit and Óscar González’s ground ball helped bring home two more runs. Prieto went deep in the ninth as the visitors stretched their lead to 12-5 before Gigantes scored once in their final turn.
A 24-run weekend changes the early standings
The result followed Saturday’s far tighter 12-11 victory in San Pedro de Macorís, when Marco Luciano delivered a two-out, bases-loaded infield single in the bottom of the ninth. Tapia had also hit a grand slam in that game, while Gigantes nearly erased the deficit with a five-run eighth inning.
Across the two meetings, Estrellas combined for 24 runs and completed a sweep that changed the shape of the early LIDOM table. Their 5-2 record put them in first place after the Tigres del Licey lost 9-5 to Águilas Cibaeñas on Sunday.
Seven games do not decide a winter-league season, but the weekend offered an early glimpse of Estrellas’ offensive depth. Tapia supplied power on consecutive nights, Prieto and Bernal joined him in Sunday’s home-run column, and the bullpen steadied a game that threatened to slip away in the first inning.
