HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 12 (acn) Cuba fought for 10 innings to beat Puerto Rico 8-7 and achieved its second victory in the 2015 WBSC Premier 12, in match held at Intercontinental Stadium in Taichung City, Chinese Taipei.
The Cuban team began impetuous and scored twice in the first inning thanks mainly to a triple by first baseman Alexander Malleta, although Puerto Rico equalized by scoring once in the third and fourth innings off Cuban starting pitcher Freddy Asiel Alvarez. The Cuban right-hander had an acceptable opening of six innings and two thirds in which he allowed two earned runs, and five hits, including a homer by Aldo Mendez, plus three walks and five strikeouts.
The squad coached by Victor Mesa regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, driven in by sacri-fly of Stayler Hernandez and hit by Yunieski Gourriel, while in the fifth inning Alfredo Despaigne increased the lead with his first home run of the tournament.
Cuba added a run in the sixth and another one in the eighth, both driven in by the eldest of the Gourriel brothers in his first appearance as regular player to reach the epilogue of the game with a 7-2 advantage .
However, what looked like an easy win became hell when Puerto Rico managed to equalize in the ninth inning by scoring five times when combining four hits, including a homer by second baseman Richard Thon off Cuban reliever Hector Mendoza.
Cuba's victory came in the tenth inning with the application of IBAF tiebreaker rule, when with one out and runners on first and third, Yasiel Santoya hit a harmless groundball to the infield but the Puerto Rican defense failed trying to make a double play.
The win went to veteran Danny Betancourt who achieved the two final outs of the match (fly out to second base and a strikeout) despite the bases were loaded of Puerto Rican players .
Yunieski Gourriel went 2 for 4 with three RBIs, while Alexander Malleta also scored two hits and drove in two runs, to offensively highlight for the winners.
Cuba now has record of two wins and one loss, and will face with better choices its two other games against Chinese Taipei and Italy, in pursuit of becoming one of the four teams qualified for group A to the quarterfinals.
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