Cuba Bids Farewell to the 2023 World Baseball Classic
with a 14-2 thrashing from Team USA
The exile’s message against the regime was heard loud and clear throughout the Island through official television.
HAVANA TIMES – The Cuban team for the World Baseball Classic said goodbye to the tournament after a resounding 14-2 loss to the USA in the semifinal game played in Miami. The US offense scored runs in each of the first six innings played, plus another in the eighth, and hit four home runs.
Cuba used six pitchers and all were hit hard. None of them lasted more than two innings. Also, for the USA, the Cuban-American Nolan Arenado suffered a ball on the hand and had to leave the game.
The Cubans had their big opportunity in the top of the first inning when they took a 1-0 lead on a walk and still had the bases loaded with no out. However, the USA starter Adam Wainwright was able to get out of the jam without further damage. For the Cubans it was all down hill from there.
In this way, the USA will discuss the WBC title with the winner of the Mexico – Japan game, the second semifinal of the tournament, which will be played on Monday evening.
In six games played, Cuba closed its transit through the Classic with three wins and three losses.
During the game, a multitude of voices chanted “Patria y Vida” and clamored for “Liberty”, slogans that resounded inside and outside the Miami Marlin’s Stadium. Those voices were perfectly audible on the live broadcast of Radio Rebelde in Cuba.
Likewise, the graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado “El Sexto”, launched himself onto the field in the sixth inning through center field with the Cubans at bat, displaying a cloth with the message “Freedom for the Cuban prisoners of 11J”. Two other people jumped onto the grass with signs and Cuban flags.
Several Cuban viewers from the Island reported to DIARIO DE CUBA signal interruptions at various moments of the transmission of the official channel Tele Rebelde, while the narrators spoke of “malicious” people seeking to “affect” the game.
From Holguín, Cubans who followed the official television broadcast reported hearing the chants and seeing the anti-regime posters displayed in the stands.
Before the start of the game, thousands of Cubans packed into the stadium carrying posters with slogans, Cuban flags, photos of political prisoners and wearing T-shirts with the phrase “Patria y Vida”, the Grammy award winning song that has become the anthem of protests both on the Island and in Miami.
In addition, exile organization representatives staged a protest outside the stadium, which was attended by community leaders, and in which the Cuban anthem was performed and photos of victims of the dictatorship and the numerous political prisoners in jails were shown.