Valencia, Venezuela — His eyes tearing up with emotion, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos embraced his rescuers Saturday and said he had wondered whether he would survive a two-day kidnapping ordeal that ended when commandos swept into his captors’ mountain hideout.

Ramos said that he was thankful to be alive a day after his rescue and that his final moments as a prisoner were hair-raising as police and the kidnappers exchanged heavy gunfire in the remote area where he was being held. He said his kidnappers had carefully planned the abduction and told him they were going to demand a large ransom.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get out of it alive,” Ramos told reporters at a police station in his hometown of Valencia, flanked by police investigators, National Guard commanders and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami. “It was very hard for me. It was very hard for my family.”

El Aissami said authorities arrested four of the captors, all of them Venezuelan men in their 20s. A 60-year-old woman and a 74-year-old man were also arrested as accomplices for supplying the kidnappers with food from their home in the area, he said. The six suspects were led past journalists at the police station with black hoods over their heads.

The authorities were still searching for at least four Colombian men who escaped during the rescue, El Aissami said. He didn’t say whether anyone was wounded in the gunbattle.

Ramos, 24, was seized at gunpoint outside his family’s home Wednesday night and whisked away in an SUV. It was the first known kidnapping of a Major League Baseball player in Venezuela, and the abduction set off an outpouring of candlelight vigils and public prayers at stadiums as well as outside Ramos’ house.

Tiger pulls within two of lead

Sydney — Tiger Woods is right in the middle of an Aussie-flavored championship Down Under.

Looking more like he did the opening two rounds, Woods ran off three birdies on his front nine and to pull within two shots of Greg Chalmers heading to the back nine.

Chalmers was at 11-under par through six holes, one shot ahead of Nick O’Hern.

Woods was tied with Jason Day, who hit his opening tee shot into the water, and 54-hole leader John Senden.

Most of the birdie chances come on the back nine of The Lakes, and Woods’ goal was to play a solid front nine to at least give himself a chance at winning for the first time in two years.

Federer reaches Paris finals

Paris — Roger Federer cruised past Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3 Saturday to reach the Paris Masters final for the first time.

The Swiss star will play either No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France or unseeded American John Isner in the final.

Hornish Jr. wins Phoenix race

Avondale, Ariz. — Sam Hornish Jr. raced to his first NASCAR victory and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took a big step toward the Nationwide Series season title when Elliott Sadler was taken out late at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday.

Hornish, a former IndyCar star, passed Stenhouse on a restart midway through the 200-mile race and stayed up front on several restarts to claim his first win in 141 career starts between the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.