Cuba Loses again in Baseball Friendly

The Cuba baseball team lost 2-4 to the United States national team in the second match of the 2019 bilateral friendly series in North Carolina.

For the host team, that were first to hit, it was their second win, since they had previously defeated Cuba 5-1 in the first of five-games series, the eighth since the resuming of such events in 2012.

Cubans took an early lead in the fourth inning with a homer of Yordanis Samon with Raúl González standing on first base after a single.

Samón connected three hits like his fellow Cesar Prieto, as part of a 10-hit offensive against three rival pitchers.

Asa Lacy, the winner, Cole Wilcox and Tyler Brown worked from the mound at the BB & T Ballpark, of Charlotte, four, three and two innings, respectively.

The North American team tied the game in the sixth inning thanks to a hit of Spencer Torkelson with Tanner Allen on base; he also produced the tie-break run after a base on ball to Casey Opitz granted by the second relief pitcher Pedro Álvarez with the bases loaded.

All scored runs went to the defeated pitcher, Freddy Asiel Álvarez, who was substituted by Yudiel Rodríguez after 17 outs, with five strike outs.

Pedro Alvarez suffered the winning run of the North American college students, driven in by an outfield pop up of Torkelson that became a sacrifice.

pitcher Wilson Paredes also worked for Cuba, and he conceded two hits in three innings of the total of 11 hits by the local team, which has 21 wins and 15 loss over the past seven years.

This Thursday, the series will move to Durham, where the last match will be played on Saturday.