By Jason Pan
Cuba even up the Thunder Series at one win each, with a tight 1-0 triumph over the CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League) Selects team at the Taoyuan International Stadium on Sunday.
It was a pitching duel most of the way between Cuban starter Freddy Alvarez and CPBL team starter Lai Hong-Cheng, the highly-touted Sinon Bulls rookie lefty.
Unlike the close affair in Game One (Chinese Taipei national squad edged Cuba 2-1), this time the Cuban players got the upper hand to prevail over the hosts by the barest 1-0 margin.
The difference in this contest was a solo dinger by outfielder Alfredo Despaigne, who took aim on a high fastball from Lai and sent it over the centerfield wall for a homer in the 4th inning.
Despaigne, Cuban National Series leaders in home run (35) and RBI (105) last season, said afterward he was not looking for a particular pitch with the 3-2 count, and just got a good swing on Lai’s offering.
With the 1-0 lead, Cuba starter Alvarez held on through 6 scoreless innings, and combined with 6 pitchers who came in the game to preserve the shutout win.
Both side had chances to add more runs, but could not sustain a rally going through rest of the contest.
The Cuban pitching staff was impressive to keep CPBL Selects at bay, giving up only 6 hits, to go with 12 strikeouts and only one issued walks.
After Lai left in completing the 5th frame, CPBL used 3 more pitchers, as they allowed a total of 7 hits, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts.
In the post-game interview, Cuban skipper Victor Mesa said his team’s hitting and overall performance is still below par, however, “We are serious in facing against Taiwanese teams in these games. They have very good teams, and it is helpful for us to play the series here, to adjust and improve our playing level. So we can tune up for our best when going to play against Japan next week.”
CPBL Selects team manager Terushi Nakashima (also head manager for the Uni-President Lions club) said, “It was a well-played game by both sides. Actually, we though Cuba might score many runs against us. Our starting pitcher Lai gave a fine performance tonight. If he can keep this up, I see Lai can have at least 10 wins next season.”
