Cuban baseball team loses 2-3 to the Netherlands in U23 World Cup

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 17 (ACN) Serious touch problems that led to a whopping 11 strikeouts against three pitchers, caused today the defeat of the Cuban team 2-3 against the Netherlands in their third match of the U23 World Championship held in Taipei, China.

In this Group B match, the Cubans had their third consecutive loss, which puts them (almost) out of the advancement to the Super Round phase.

After two consecutive defeats to Puerto Rico (0-5) and South Korea (0-4), the Cubans scored in the first inning the two runs they have scored in the 21 competitive innings so far. In that opening they connected three of the six hits in the entire game and of the only 11 so far in the tournament.

In view of the poor offensive performance, the Caribbean mentor made several changes in the regular lineup and, at least, achieved a certain, although insufficient, improvement in the batting. The outfielder Cristian Hidaldo gave a single in the opening inning, and then the third baseman, Yuri Fernandez, hit a double, and Guillermo Garcia, moved down to the fifth inning, gave the single that brought in the two runs.

The victory for the Europeans came in the sixth episode with a pair of singles against reliever Leodan Nuñez.

The Cuban team will travel from the city of Doulio to Tianmu where it will face Mexico.