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Cuba wins pitching duel, downs Canada 3-0

For a tiny island in the northern Carribean, Cuba certainly knows how to produce great pitching.
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Canada's Justin Atkinson (left) turns a double play in the third inning, forcing Cuba's Daniel Crespo at second then throwing out Yamil Rivalta at first Saturday at Port Arthur Stadium. (By Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)
For a tiny island in the northern Carribean, Cuba certainly knows how to produce great pitching.

The Cuban staff remained unblemished Saturday night, two days into the World Junior Baseball Championship in Thunder Bay, blanking Canada 3-0 in a tightly fought ballgame destined to go down one of the city’s all-time classic pitching duels.

Shortstop Andy Ibanez was the Canadian heartbreaker on Day 2 of the tournament, singling to left off reliever Evan Grills with the bases loaded to break open a scoreless tie and help hand Canada (1-1) its first defeat.

The Cubans, 11-time champions at the world juniors, stayed undefeated at 2-0, getting just enough offense to get by while extending their tournament long shutout string to 16 innings.

They owe the latter mark to starter Omar Luis, a 17-year-old Zaza del Medio lefty who stood strong on the mound, tossing 128 pitches at the Canadians in a 10-strikeout, complete game.

“It was fabulous pitching by Omar,” Cuban manager Jose Castillo said through an interpreter. “His grand dominance with the breaking ball and the fastball was what I expected. This is maybe one of his best games of his life.”

Luis wasn’t unhittable – he gave up four – and nor did he have complete control of his pitches, walking five, but it was a rare moment when he found himself in trouble.

Canada loaded the bases in the third, but DH Philip Diedrick went first-pitch hunting, grounding to second to end the threat. They also had men on first and second with one out in the sixth, but a Kellin Deglan liner to right took care of that when Diedrick was caught running on the play and easily doubled up.

“It was an important game,” Rivas said through an interpreter. “It’s a game for classification, and I dedicate this game to the people of Cuba and the commander-in-chief Fidel Castro.”

Castillo gave Canada credit for keeping it close and almost stealing on – and for keeping his nerves on edge until the bitter end. 

“It was a very tension-filled game, and the opponent was excellent. Canada played a big, big game and made us sweat,” Castillo said.

The loss spoiled a brilliant performance by Canadian right-hander Tom Robson, who allowed just three hits in six innings of work, striking out four before being lifted in favour of four-time national team member Evan Grills, a draftee of the Houston Astros who recently signed a $150,000 deal with the National League club.

Robson retired the side in order three times in his appearance, and other than a leadoff double to Jorge Soler to start the second, was never in a jam.

But as good as both pitchers threw, the law of baseball says someone had to lose.

“I thought we pitched very well. I thought we had a great game. That was probably one of the best games we’ve had this month. It’s been a long month and to play like that it definitely shows we’re getting better and better each time,” Robson said.

“I think tomorrow we’re going to bring it again and it’s going to be a great game.”

Canadian manager Greg Hamilton said the Cubans got the bat on the ball at the right moment, something Canada failed to do all night in front of a packed Port Arthur Stadium crowd numbering in the 3,200 range.

“We just couldn’t get a timely hit. When you look at the other side, it was the same thing. They basically got one timely hit. They left baserunners and didn’t get guys in and that’s why the zeroes were up there. I think we pitched equally as well, they just happened to get that one hit,” said Hamilton, whose team has less than 24 hours to prepare for Sunday’s 2 p.m. matinee against two-time defending champion South Korea.

Hamilton said ideally Grills would have equalled or bettered Robson’s performance, but said in baseball one doesn’t always have their best stuff every night. This just happened to be an off night for the Whitby, Ont. native, who set the side down in order in the seventh, but fell apart in the eighth.

Daniel Crespo singled to start things off and Yamil Rivalta followed with a walk. A passed ball advanced both runners 90 feet, and with one out pinch hitter Gelkis Jimenez worked a walk from Grills loading the bases for Ibanez.

Soler lined into a double play to end the inning, just one batter too late for Canada’s sakes.

Lazaro Hernandez singled home an insurance run in the ninth to cap the scoring.

In other WJBC play on Saturday:

Italy 6 Venezuela 5: At Baseball Central 2, a pair of throwing errors in the 11th inning led to a stunning Pool A upset, as the Italians edged a Venezuela team that had less than two days to  make its way to Thunder Bay, having initially pulled out of the tournament at the 11th hour. The game was originally supposed to be played at 9:30 a.m., but was rescheduled to 4 p.m. when officials learned the South American squad was going to arrive in the city after all.

Panama 7 Czech Republic 5: At Baseball Central Panama scored three times in the thrid and twice in the fifth to edge their European opponent. Leadoff hitter Leovany Torres was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs, while Alexander Rodriguez allowed four earned runs through six-and-a-third. Martin Cervenka was 2-for-5 with an RBI for the Czechs.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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