Photo / Cubadebate
Hermosillo, September 30 (RHC/Cubadebate)-- The Cuban team lost this Wednesday to Venezuela by a score of 11-0 in the first game of the Super Round of this III Under 23 Baseball World Cup, in a game where their victimizers connected a total of 15 hits, including eight extra-base hits.
The team led by "Admiral" Garcia showed its credentials very early on at the Sonora Stadium in Hermosillo, when it scored two runs against the right-hander Brayan Chi in the very first inning, foreshadowing a dark day for the team from the largest of the Antilles.
The lead-off man Carlos David Rodriguez opened the scoring with a four-corner bomb and Justin Lopez hit a driving shot after the Cuban pitcher allowed an unearned run and gave away a ticket.
Chi, perched in the box with four days' rest due to a Cuban management with few options, showed up with little command in his deliveries and with a speed well below his usual speed and the most offensive team of the tournament did not forgive him.
A single and a pair of consecutive tubeyes dynamited the mound in the second episode without being able to get an out and a home run by the fourth hitter Romer Cuadrado against the reliever Kelbis Rodriguez, completed a devastating bunch of four runs that finally tipped the balance of the challenge.
The mask Juan Fernandez dictated sentence with a home run in the bottom of the fifth to leave the Cubans lying on the field, before the same Rodriguez who withstood punishment of nine hits and six clean runs, to protect the bull-pen.
The Cuban lumber could do little against starter Jesus Vargas, a pitcher who belongs to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization (strong Class A) and who had just won a game against Colombia in the qualifying round.
With a good change of velocity and an average straight line, he "outwitted" his opponents for five innings by accepting only five hits while striking out five and not giving away tickets, taking advantage of their impatience in the batter's box and the "fight to the death" they had with pitches outside the batting zone.
For Cuba, the captain Guillermo Garcia and the shortstop Yandi Yanez each had a pair of hits and Rodoleisis Moreno scored the other.
