• Submitted by: admin
• Asia
• Entertainment
• Events
• International
• Sports
• 11 / 13 / 2007

Cuba easily defeated Thailand 11-1 on Tuesday as expected and now plays the Netherlands Wednesday in the Chinese Taipei Baseball World Cup. The Cubans are undefeated in Group B with a 6-0 record in first round play while the Netherlands is 4-2 and tied for third place.

Thailands only run came on a throwing error by catcher Yosvani Peraza as starter Vladimir Banos and reliever Norberto Gonzalez gave up only four hits. Cuba had a total of 14 hits in winning the game called after seven innings on the mercy rule (when there is a ten-run difference between the two teams).

Cubas manager Rey Vicente Anglada took advantage of the weak opponent to start players who hadnt seen action in the previous five games. One of those, Yosvani Peraza, didnt shun the opportunity and had two hits, the first a homer to center, and drove in three runs.

Cuba could have done more, but this wasnt Tuesdays main objective. What was important was winning on the mercy rule, as expected, without too much effort and avoiding another injury.

And speaking of injuries, good news came yesterday that second baseman Hector Olivera is recovering. He will be much needed during the quarterfinals match against possibly Japan or Panama. While yesterdays game against Thailand had nothing newsworthy, it did contribute something to the statistics.

The two homeruns by Yulieski Gourriel took him to fourth place in the history of the Baseball World Cups with 13, behind three other Cubans, Orestes Kindelan (22), Omar Linares (20) and Antonio Pacheco (17). He surpassed his father Lourdes Gourriel (11).

Kindelan, Linares and Pacheco reached their homerun feats in five World Cups, Lourdes in three and Yulieski in two plus whats taken place so far in Chinese Taipei.

For the final qualifying round game against the Netherlands, Rey Anglada has announced left hander Arley Sanchez and the bench is expected to see more play as Cuba has already clinched first in the standings.

Source: Granma