Cuba edges Canada in Olympic baseball thriller

Cuba edges Canada in Olympic baseball thriller

Cuba hit two home runs in the sixth inning to regain the lead for good and defeat Canada 7-6 in a seesaw Olympic baseball battle on Day 6 of the Beijing Games.

After the start of the game at Wukesong Baseball Field was delayed by rain, Alexander Malleta hit a two-run shot off Canadian pitcher Jonathan Lockwood, while Alfredo Despaigne put the Cubans ahead 7-5 with a blast off Chris Reitsma.

Canada chipped away with a run in the top of the eighth, but didn't threaten in their last chance in the ninth inning of a preliminary-round game that featured five home runs.

The Canadian team will return to action Friday against South Korea, which beat the U.S. in their opener.

The latest Canada-Cuba matchup comes after Canada lost an 8-5 heartbreaker in the Olympic semifinals at the Athens Olympics. Cuba scored six runs in the eighth to come back, with Canada's bid to tie the score falling about a foot short of a home run.

On Thursday, Canada had briefly taken a 5-3 lead after scoring five unanswered runs. Left-fielder Nick Weglarz crushed his second home run of the game, a two-run shot, to put Canada ahead in the top of the sixth.

Weglarz's blast came after Scott Thorman led with a double. Canada had two chances for another run, but left a man on third.

Weglarz hit a towering shot over the centre-field wall to tie the game in the fourth inning.

Right-fielder Michael Saunders started the comeback, launching a two-run homer for Canada in the top of the third to narrow Cuba's lead.

Saunders crushed an offering off Cuban starter Adiel Palma over the right-field wall with Stubby Clapp on base.

Reliever Lockwood helped with the comeback, shutting the powerful Cuban bats down over two innings after replacing starter Brooks McNiven.

Cuba had scored three in the second to take the lead. Eduardo Paret's double was the big blow off McNiven, putting the Cubans up 2-0 after they had opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly.

Palma then hit a ground ball that went through the legs of second baseman Clapp to score Paret.

Tight from outset

The teams were scoreless after one inning.

Giorbis Duvergel of Cuba reached base with a hit in the bottom of the first for Cuba, and was moved over by a pair of deep flyouts by his teammates.

But Clapp ended the threat with a brilliant play, using his glove to pick up a slow grounder and in one motion, shovel it to first baseman Thorman for the third out.

Canada threatened in the top of the second with runners on first and third with none out, but Thorman left third on contact, a ground ball to shortstop Paret. The Cuban threw to the plate and Thorman was tagged out in a rundown by third baseman Michel Enriquez.

Thorman and Enriquez bumped shoulders and briefly stared at each other after the play.

Third baseman Matt Rogelstad went over the railing in the Cuban dugout later in the inning chasing a foul ball, but was unhurt.

After Canada rallied to take the lead, Cuban pitcher Vicyonhandry Odelin was key for his side, offering over two innings of solid relief.

Canada's Steve Green came up big in relief in the eighth. Cuba had a runner on third and none out, but Green atoned for an errant pickoff attempt by striking out two and inducing a groundball to end the threat.

Leading up to the Canada-Cuba matchup, Canada crushed China 10-0 in its first game, while Cuba topped Japan 4-2.

U.S. blanks Netherlands

In other games Thursday, the United States rebounded from the Korean loss to blank the Netherlands 7-0. Stephen Strasburg struck out 11 over seven innings as he and reliever Casey Weathers combined on a one-hitter.

Japan beat Chinese Taipei 6-1.

Korea and China were scoreless in the sixth inning when the game was postponed by rain. The teams will resume play Sunday.