Day three of the Olympics Baseball tournament is over and the highly anticipated duel between Cuba and the USA was more than just entertaining. We also saw twice the new IBAF tiebreaker rule in effect with every of the four teams involved scoring, although China and Taiwan needed an inning more.
The rule indirectly led to the end of Jayson Nix’ Olympics, as he was hit by the ball in the face, when he tried to lay down the sac bunt in the bottom of the eleventh and the ball glanced of the bat. He sustained a laceration to the upper left eyebrow, which was repaired in the hospital. Team USA manager Davey Johnson obviously was not happy about the ending and the new rule found no supporters on their side.
Japan shut out the Netherlands, which still waits for their first run in Beijing after the third game day. They might have their best shot to win a game, at least on paper, tomorrow, when they square off with host China, which used the tiebreaker rule to their favor today in beating Taiwan.
Results, August 15:
China – Taiwan 8-7 (12) Recap
USA – Cuba 4-5 (11) Recap
Canada – Korea 0-1 Recap
Japan – Netherlands 6-0 Recap
Complete Schedule, incl. live scoring
Schedule, August 16:
10:30 USA – Canada
11:30 Cuba – Taiwan
18:00 China – Netherlands
19:00 Japan – South Korea
Standings:
- Cuba 3-0
- South Korea 2-0
- Japan 2-1
- China 1-1
- Canada 1-2
- Taiwan 1-2
- USA 1-2
- Netherlands 0-3