MATANZAS, Cuba- It will take a third day to complete the game five of the Cuba Summer Series as heavy rain reared it’s ugly head once again this afternoon at Victoria de Giron Stadium.
The juniors, looking for their first win of the series, led 9-0 at one point, but Cuba mounted a comeback and currently trail 9-6 with two out in the bottom of the eighth with runners on first and second.
When play resumed this afternoon Mike Soroka (Calgary, AB) took the mound in the bottom of the fourth, Cuba batting, nobody out, runner on first and a two and one count on the batter. After striking out the first batter he faced, Soroka hit a batter and allowed a single to right that loaded the bases only to get a double play on a groundball to second to end the inning.
The juniors picked up where they left off yesterday scoring four runs in the top of the fifth to go up 9-0. Josh Naylor got the ball rolling singling to right and moving to second on a throwing error by the Cuban catcher after Robert Byckowski reached first base on a fielder’s choice. Mitch Robinson then singled to right to load the bases and Matt Lloyd delivered a single to centre on a hanging breaking ball that brought in two runs. JF Garon then doubled to the gap in left-centre allowing Robinson and Lloyd to score easily.
Cuba got a run back in the fifth after Soroka surrendered a leadoff single and uncorked two wild pitches to put the runner on third before a groundout cashed him in.
Cuba began making a comeback in the home half of the eighth, scoring five runs to cut their deficit to three. Soroka got into trouble early walking a batter then allowing him to move to second base on a wild pitch. A single then scored one run followed by an error and two consecutive singles coming with two out.
Soroka exited the game and Keenan Williams (Vancouver, BC) took over for Soroka and gave up a pair of singles one of which brought in a run before the game was stopped when it began raining.
Up Next: The series will continue tomorrow with the conclusion of game five beginning at 10am EST with games six and seven to follow (7 innings)at Palmer de Junco Stadium in Matanzas…Live game tweets from all Cuba Summer Series games will be available via Baseball Canada’s Twitter account, @baseballcanada. Daily game stories will be posted after each game on Baseball Canada’s official website, baseball.ca.
Cuba Summer Series schedule:
0704 Canada 4 Cuba 11
0705 Cuba 5 Canada 2
0705 Canada 0 Cuba 6
0706 Cuba 11 Canada 1
070910am - Canada 9 Cuba 6 (suspended in 8th inning)
0709 Cuba Canada
0709 Canada Cuba
0710 9am
*All times eastern
