Cuba eliminates U.S.

The Cubans ran the American’s blockade to a World Junior Baseball Championship on Friday, taking down the United States with some ninth-inning heroics.

Lazaro Hernandez tripled to the gap in centre-field, and pinch hitter Lazaro Ramirez raced 270 feet around the Port Arthur Stadium basepaths, earning the fourth-place Cubans a berth in one of Saturday’s semfinals.

It was enough to secure a 3-2 win. And with that, the once unbeaten Americans were done. 

Hernandez said afterward his game-winning hit was a chance at redemption.

“I made that play to make up for an error I made in another game. I needed to find more concentration,” he said through an interpreter.

“I put all my senses – not five, but maybe seven senses – in my mind to play this game.”

Hernandez’s hit would have meant little or nothing if it weren’t for the rubber-armed lefty Omar Luis, who threw 144 pitches in a complete-game, eight-strikeout effort, just crafty enough to keep the powerful U.S. squad from putting together enough hits in sequence to mount a charge.

Luis, who scattered 10 hits, said beating their American counterparts has been on their minds since the tournament began, and were just waiting for the opportunity to try.

“We’ve been working very hard for this game. This game is very important,” he said through an interpreter. “It was the main game for Cuba in the championship. I’m very happy and I think were ready to go look for a championship.”

The Americans, who loaded the bases in the ninth with two outs, but couldn’t get Michael Lorenzen home from third, were devastated, after going 5-0 in the round robin and looking like the team to beat.

Hitting coach Brian McRae, filling in for manager Garye LaFevers in post-game interviews, said it was close, but no cigar.

“We had them on the ropes and we couldn’t take advantage. We had guys on early in the ballgame and we couldn’t come up with the big hit. We kept putting pressure on (Luis) and I think he settled in when we didn’t score early. We got that one run in the second, but he was able to wiggle himself out of some jams,” McRae said.

“The in the middle innings he was able to keep us off balance and we didn’t do a lot. Then when we started to mount a little bit late, he seemed he could make a pitch and do something to keep us from inflicting some damage on us.”

The defeat wasted a brilliant performance by U.S. starter A.J. Vanegas, who lasted eight strong innings, giving up just five hits and striking out 13.

But one of those hits was a first-inning homerun by Cuba’s talented first baseman Guillermo Aviles that gave Cuba a 1-0 lead.

The U.S. tied it in the second when Nicky Delmonico led off with a single and scored on a two-out double by Lorenzon.

Cuba regained the lead in the fourth. Jorge Soler doubled to start the inning. The next hitter, Gelkis Jimenez, followed with a double of his own, giving his team a 2-1 lead, an advantage they nursed until the eighth.

The Americans drew even again when Bubba Starling hit a grounder to second that took a bad hop on 2B Yamil Rivalta, skipping into the outfield as Tony Wolters scampered home from second.

The U.S. set themselves up to tie it or win it in the ninth, but with the bases full, Marcus Littlewood grounded weakly to short to end the game. Lorenzen was held by the third-base coach on the previous play, after Francisco Lindor lined a single to left.”

The American side tried to look at the positives they could draw from the loss.

“It’s disappointing,” Lorenzen said. “To think about it all, I’m just glad to be going home to a free country. God’s been faithful to me and the team. We’ve learned a lot on this trip and learned a lot about ourselves in our lives. We’ve come together as a family and nothings lost. It’s just disappointing to lose. Nobody likes to lose, especially in a game like this.”

Cuba awaits the winner of the South Korea/Australia quarterfinal.

In other World Junior Baseball Championship action on Friday:

Chinese Taipei 4 Netherlands 2: Chinese pitcher ChunLin Kuo struck out 18 Dutch batters, leading his team into the semifinal, where they will await the winner of the Canada/Italy game Friday night. Lin Tzu Wei slammed a three-run homer in the seventh inning to turn around what had been a 2-1 lead for the Netherlands.