Cuba Wins Baseball Opener vs. Japan
HAVANA TIMES, July 10 — Team Cuba had an easy time against usually tough Japan winning their opening game of the Haarlem Baseball Week 6-0 behind eight innings of shutout pitching of Freddy Asiel Alvarez.
Cuba’s offense was led by Yunier Mendoza who had three hits and three RBIs and Alexei Bell who also had three hits and scored twice. Rolando Meriño and Donal Castro also drove in a run each.
Norberto Gonzalez came on to pitch the final inning for the Cubans.
Yudai L Ohno took the loss for Japan going 7.2 innings and allowing all of Cuba’s six runs (five earned).
Also on the opening day of the six-team tournament, the United States defeated Chinese Taipei 3-1.
Cuba has the day off on Saturday and plays rival USA on Sunday.
On Saturday, the USA lost to Japan 4-2 and host The Netherlands meets Chinese Taipei.
Cuba plays its third game on Monday vs. Chinese Taipei. The other competitor, Venezuela plays its opener on Monday against the USA.
For the game by game results click on the official tournament site.
For play-by-play and detailed reports visit Peter C. Bjarkman’s posts at baseballcuba.com.
Peter C. Bjarkman’s lead up to the Haarlem Baseball Tournament