The team that will represent Cuba in the V World Baseball Classic (WBC) surpassed this Monday with a 10-4 scoreboard the Golondrinas de Yakult, champion of the central division in the Japan Professional League (NPB)during the third game in Okinawa prefecture, where he is preparing for the tournament.
The Cubans, led by Armando Johnson, staged a consistent offensive of 16 hits, including five doubles and a home run, to support the work of the starter and winner, José Ramón Rodríguez, and four other pitchers, according to a report from the sports portal Hit.
#elCubaClasico celebrates second win in Okinawa
They beat Golondrinas de Yakult 10×4 and will face Gigantes de Yomiuri this Wednesday, with Yadier Rodríguez as starter. #Cuba #baseball #WorldBaseballClassic #CubanBaseballhttps://t.co/385kaRdQzZ pic.twitter.com/aPwBsELhwm— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) February 21, 2023
It was the second victory for the island team, after give 2-11 against Nippon Ham Fighters and defeat 3-2 against the Chunichi Dragons, two other teams from the NPB.
The marker of the clash was activated in the third inning against the initiator Reiji Kozawa, who charged with the setback. Then, Yoelkis Guibert hit the first of his two tubeyes in the duel and pushed in a couple of runs.
Then came another cluster of five scores in which another four hits from two bases were vital. From the mound, that artillery had Hirotoshi Takanashi as its victim, who also allowed the home run with which Guillermo García brought the three runs to the plate that, in the fifth inning, rounded off the Cuban harvest.
The media adds that the hosts made one in the third act, unique to Rodríguez’s account and driven by Yu Matsumoto, their best attacking man with two hits in four opportunities.
After being dominated by Raidel Martínez and Javier Mirabal, the Japanese cast made three for Yeudis Reyes. Two came in the seventh, with a sacrifice fly by Sho Matzuy and a triple by Soum Uchiyama, and one in the next by a home run by Yoshihiro Akahane.
Frank Abel Álvarez did his homework in the ninth inning, although he also gave up a hit and a walk.
This Wednesday the Cuban team will hold a new preparatory commitment against the SoftBank Hawks, a team in which the Cubans were active alfredo despaigne and Yerisbel Gracias, and still has reliever Liván Moinelo on his payroll.
For the opening of the clash, the coach Pedro Luis Lazo announced the right-hander from Camagüey Yariel Rodríguez, another who works in professional baseball in Japan, but in the Dragones de Chunichi.
