Japan beat Cuba 8-5 in WBC

HAVANA, Cuba, March 14 (acn) Japan beat 8-5 Cuba in the second game of these two teams of Pool E (second round), held at the Tokyo Dome stadium, of the 4th World Baseball Classic (WBC).

Japan opened the score in the very first inning when leadoff hitter and DH Tetsuto Yamada hit a solo homer off Cuban starting pitcher Vladimir Baños, but Cuba took the lead in the second thanks to a 2-RBI home run by 2B Yurisbel Gracial.
The local squad managed to tie 2-2 in the third frame when cleanup hitter and LF Yoshitomo Tsutsugo hit an RBI-single that drove in Yamada, who had previously batted a double to left field.
In the fourth inning, the Caribbean side took the lead again by scoring twice when RF Victor Mesa hit a 2-RBI single with the bases loaded, but Japanese leveled the score again in the fifth when they scored two runs with highlight to Tsutsugo´s RBI-single, his third hit in the game.
In the sixth, both teams scored one run each and the score was tied 5-5.
The decision came on bottom of the eighth frame when, after one out, Cuban 1B William Saavedra made a fielding error, then CF Shogo Akiyama singled to LF and the runner reached third base to then score driven in by a sacri-fly by PH Ishikawa, subsequently Yamada batted his third hit of the game, a 2-RBI homer, to complete the 8-5 final score.
This defeat of the Cubans puts them in an uncomfortable position, as they must beat the Netherlands, who have a win and a loss, and wait for Japan to beat Israel, also with a 1-1 balance in this second round of the contest, thus provoking a triple tie in the second seat of this Pool E.
Boxscore
123 456 789 R H E
CUB 020 201 000 5 10 1
JPN 101 020 03X 8 9 0
W: Ryo Akiyoshi (1-0)
L: Miguel Lahera (0-1)
S: Kazuhisa Makita (2)
HR: T. Yamada (2) and Y. Gracial.