U-23 Baseball World Cup: Cuba loses again due to shutout

The Cuban U-23 baseball team continued to be drowned in a deep offensive lethargy and lost (4-0) this Sunday its second game in the World Championship of the category, which is being held in Chinese Taipei with the contest of 12 nations.

After losing by shutout against Puerto Rico in the premiere, the Antilleans were once again left without a race against South Korea on the third date of a match that has been affected by the rains, to the point that four duels have been suspended due to climatic incidents.

This Sunday, the organizers were forced to move some clashes to the alternative venue of Doulio, where the ninth directed by Alain Álvarez could not make their bats sound either. Only three hits were connected by the Cubans against six South Korean pitchers, who completed the entire route with five strikeouts and four walks.

The Cuban pitching also held up, but in the epilogue the rivals’ left fielder, Seunghwan Song, hit a home run with the bases loaded against right-hander Andy Vargas and left the Caribbean team on the field.

Vargas retired by his order the first five opponents he faced since he climbed on the mound at the height of the sixth chapter. However, with two outs in the seventh he lost the rubber and gave up two walks and a hit to load the bases. In that situation, he fell behind in the count (two balls and one strike) against Song, who bounced the ball to him into left field on the fourth pitch.

In this way, the South Koreans shook off the dominance to which they had been subjected for six innings, in which starter Oscar Hernández, speedy reliever Frank Abel Álvarez and Andy Vargas himself managed to impose their law.

But aside from these pitching tasks, the most worrying thing for Cuba is its anemic offensive. In 14 innings and 41 official at-bats, they have only connected five hits. This Sunday, in addition, they were not fine in the running of the bases.

In the second inning, Yuri Fernández was put out on the rubber while trying to score from third with a fly ball to the outfield, while in the third he was surprised by a man at first. To make matters worse, in the sixth they were unable to score despite Christian Hidalgo opening the inning with a double.

Cubans are forced to react if they do not want to go home early. With two defeats, the Netherlands, Mexico and Australia remain.