Cuba defeats Japan in duel of Gold Favorites

Cuba – Japan 4-2

JPN 001 010 000  2 9 1
CUB 011 020 00X  4 9 1

Box score

In what could be also the final game of the Olympics Baseball tournament, Cuba beat Japan 4-2 on Wednesday making a statement that the exhibition results before the event were meaningless. Japan overcame deficits of 0-1 and 1-2 until the Cubans took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth through Alfredo Despaigne’s two-run single. He had a total of three hits and three RBIs in the game, as he also drove in Alex Bell with a single in the second frame. Frederich Cepeda also got a RBI. Bell scored two times.

Japan tied the contest twice on sac flies in the third and fifth by Norichika Aoki and Takahiro Arai. They hadn’t really a chance to score after the fifth, as they managed just three more hits, after two the base runner was removed through double plays. Munenori Miyamoto had three hits in three at bats, scoring both runs.

Norge Luis Vera (W 1-0) picked up the win after six solid innings. He allowed two runs on seven hits, striking out two, while walking none. Pedro Luis Lazo closed it out with three scoreless innings of relief for the save. Yu Darvish (L 0-1) gave up seven hits, four runs and four base on balls in four-plus innings. He had six of the twelve Japanese strikeouts.