The Cuban bats froze against six pitchers from the Netherlands and the national team lost 4-2 in its debut of the fifth World Baseball Classic, in which they will now have to row against the current to advance to the second round.
The ninth Antilles received six tickets, but only had three hits (all doubles) and went hitless in seven turns with men in scoring position, two details that took their toll from an offensive point of view and minimized the work of their pitchers. , authors of 13 strikeouts.
Team Netherlands gets the first W of the #WorldBaseballClassic! pic.twitter.com/8QitNH5eIc
— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 8, 2023
Cuba opened the scoring in the second inning by walking Yoelkis Guibert and Yadil Mujica’s RBI double, two men who came on as substitutes for the injured Alfredo Despaigne and Andy Ibáñez.
The early Antilles advantage did not last long, as at the end of the first third the Europeans managed to level the actions with a single by Roger Bernardina, a groundout to the infield by Xander Bogaerts to overtake the runner and unstoppable producer of Didi Gregorius.
That was pretty much the only thing the Dutch could do against Cuban starter Yariel Rodríguez, who walked four innings at the rate of six strikeouts, one walk and just three hits on his tally. The right-hander from Camagüey impressed with fastballs of up to 98 miles and a devastating slider.
However, the Cuban reliever had a slip in the sixth inning, in which they allowed a decisive three-run run. Left-hander Onelki García led off the inning with a ticket to Didi Gregorius and then accepted a single from Jonathan Schoop, for which the high command decided to replace him.
In his place came the right-hander Carlos Juan Viera, who struck out three, but conceded a couple of rockets from Josh Palacios and Chadwick Tromp that drove in three scores.
With a difference of three on the scoreboard, Cuba did not wake up either. Only the Guibert-Mujica connection came back to carburete to score the second for the Caribbean team, scored by the Santiago native and driven by the Matanzas native.
Cuba now has four consecutive defeats against the Netherlands in World Classics: two in 2013, one in 2017 and this one in 2023. The only Antilles victory against the Europeans occurred in the first edition of the event, 17 years ago.
After the defeat, Armando Johnson and the management of the Caribbean squad must study potential changes in the lineup for the next game against Italy, which will take place next Thursday, March 9 at 6:00 am (Cuban time).
| Equipment | Careers | jits | Mistakes |
 |
2 | 3 | 0 |
 |
4 | 7 | 0 |
Won: Eric Mendez (1-0)
Lost: Onelki Garcia (0-1)
Saved Game: Wendell Floranus (1)
