Cuba Plays Canada Tonight in Pan Am Games Baseball
By Ray Otero (baseballdecuba.com)
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban and Canadian baseball teams square off at 7 pm ET on Tuesday in Toronto, in both teams fourth game in the Pan American Games baseball tournament.
Going into the contest, Cuba has a 2-1 record; defeating Colombia 10-3 and Puerto Rico 8-1, while losing to the USA 5-2. Host Canada is undefeated; winning 4-1 of the Dominican Republic, 10-3 over Colombia and 9-1 over Nicaragua.
Canada announced veteran righty Shawn Hill to start while Cuba is expected to send lefty Yoanni Yera to the mound.
The game can be seen online live here.
Related Post: Cuban bats come alive in 8-1 over Puerto Rico.
I saw the baseball game between Cuba and Canada yesterday evening. It was a terrifically exciting game, a true pitching duel with plenty of strike outs on both sides and excellent fielding, especially from the Cuban team. In the 5th inning, Cuba made a couple of errors which the Canadians were quick to pounce on, getting two on base and then smashing a home run deep over the centerfield fence.
The crowd was large and spirited, including a sizeable Cuban section of supporters. My son was able to get autographs on his Matanzas Cocodrilos t-shirt from a couple of the Cuban players, which was a wonderful gesture. All in all, we had a great time. And of course, Canada won 3-1.
(A small detail: the baseball games are being played in Ajax, Ontario which is a suburb a few miles east of Toronto.)