Cuba And USA Battle at the WBC
Sunday, August 18, 2013 @ 4:57 AM
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USA pitcher Austin Woodward delivers at WBC match-up with Cuba Saturday night. Photo 250 News
Prince George, B.C. – Heck of a ball game Saturday night as day five of the World Baseball Challenge wrapped up at Citizen Field with Cuba meeting the United States.
The Cubans were looking to retain their undefeated record while the Americans were hoping to get back on track after suffering two straight losses. The 1251 paid fans in the stands certainly got their money’s worth in a tight contest that wasn’t decided until the ninth inning.
The Cubans came out strong in the first inning, swatting three hits off the U.S. starting pitcher Austin Woodward. But the rally was killed by a bases loaded double play as Cuba stranded a pair. They could have opened the scoring again in the second but stranded two more runners. They did get on the board with a single run in the third on a couple of base hits. Meantime Cuba’s starter, Dachel Duquesne, a hard-throwing, precise chucker who knows how to paint the knees in the strike zone, held the American batters to just two singles into the fifth, when Nate Mullins put one over the fence in right centre to tie the game at one. The Cuban defence had been solid behind Duquesne to keep the U.S. off the board.
The Americans took a 2-1 lead with one in the sixth but Cuba came right back with a single of their own in the seventh to knot the score at deuces. The US had a chance to go up in the eighth when Roemon Fields drew a four-pitch walk. With one out he stole second, that was followed by another walk and a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third. They were stranded by an inning-ending ground out back to the pitcher.
Cuba scored the winning run in the 9th with two out. A single to right was followed by a steal of second base. Another single to left drove the winning run home from second as Cuba edged the States 3-2. Cuba stranded 8 runners while the US left six on base.
Meantime the Chinese Taipei Nationals are on a roll at the World Baseball Challenge.
Fresh from downing Team Canada 8-2 Friday night, the Nationals came back with a solid 7-1 victory over Japan Saturday afternoon to run their record to 3 and 1. The Chinese outhit Japan 9-6 with three of those hits going out of the park. Chinese Taipei opened with three runs in the first but didn’t produce again until the 7th, when they brought two men across the plate. They added another pair in the 8th. The lone Japanese run was scored in the third inning. Japan stranded 9 runners to China’s four. Po Ting Hsiao went three for five at the plate for China. They face the USA at 3pm today, while Japan, now with a 2 and 2 record, has the day off. The 7 O’clock game has Canada facing the tough and undefeated Cubans.
The standings are as follows:
Cuba 3 and 0
China 3 and 1
Japan 2 and 2
USA 1 and 3
Canada 0 and 3
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