Australia, Cuba’s rival in search of the Miami semifinals

MIAMI, United States. — This Wednesday the Cuban team that will participate in the fifth World Baseball Classic will face their counterpart from Australia in the Tokyo Dome (Japan) in search of a place in the semifinals of the event, which will be held between Sunday and Monday at the LoanDepot Park in the city of Miami.

The leadership of the Cuba team announced Yariel Rodríguez, who pitches with the Chunichi Dragons, a team that competes in the central division of the Japanese Professional Baseball League as the starter.

The young man from Camagüey was in charge of starting the first game against the Netherlands. Against the Europeans, Rodríguez completed a solid performance, allowing an earned run in four innings with six strikeouts.

Australia, Cuba’s rival, was second in Group B, with a record of three wins and one loss. The Aussies were second only to favorites Japan, who won the group with four wins from as many games.

He game between both teams will start at six in the morning (Cuban time and on the east coast of the United States) and has as background two victories for the Cubans in World Classics, both with close scores of 5-4 (2009) and 4- 3 (2017).

After a faltering start to the championship, which included successive defeats against the Netherlands and Italy, Cuba recovered and managed to advance as first place in Group A of the tournament.

The Cubans beat Panama (13-4) and Taiwan (7-1) and were benefited by a combination of results that put all the members of the key with a record of two wins and two losses, but also the Antilleans and Italians, in that order, with the best tie-breaking criteria.

The parameter that decided the standings was the lower ratio of the number of runs allowed divided by the number of defensive outs recorded in the games of that round between the tied teams.