Opening Day starting pitchers announced for WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier

Monday, 31 May 2021: international baseball is back. The WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier opens in Florida, the USA, Eight of the top National Tams in the Americas will play for a spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The second and third-place finishers will advance to the Final Qualifier (22-26 June).

You might be also interested in:
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After Sunday’s virtual press conferences, the eight managers announced their opening day starters

Check the videos of the press conferences:

Group A

Group B

Game 1 between World No. 11 Puerto Rico and No. 10 Dominican Republic will be a lefty-vs-lefty matchup. Puerto Rico will send Luis Leroy Cruz to the mound. He has 11 professional seasons under his belt, including last season's campaign in the Dominican winter league with Tigres de Licey. On the other hand, the Dominican Republic will open the game with Raul Valdez.

For Game 2, World No. 9 Venezuela will give the ball to Anibal Sanchez. Right-hander Lázaro Blanco will start for No. 7 Cuba. Sanchez, 37, has played 15 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons. He won the 2019 World Series with the Washington Nationals and had the lowest earned run average (ERA) in 2013 while with Detroit. Blanco pitched for Cuba during the WBSC Premier12 2019. He worked 5.1 innings in relief against Australia, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs.

World No. 2 USA will send Matthew Liberatore to the mound to face No. 15 Nicaragua in Game 3. Liberatore, a first-round pick in the 2018 MLB draft, currently plays for the St. Louis Cardinals Triple-A team. He was the winning pitcher of the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2017 final. Nicaragua’s manager Marvin Benard will answer with Carlos Teller, a 34-years old left-hander who currently plays for Rieleros de Aguascalientes in the Mexican Baseball League (LMB).

In Game 4, 24-year old right-hander Erling Moreno will start for World No. 14 Colombia. He has some international experience since he was a member of the Colombian team during the 2017 World Baseball Classic. For No. 12 Canada, manager Ernie Whitt will give the ball to Andrew Albers, a veteran with 4 MLB seasons, 3 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and one in Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).