Cuba did not win, but it deserved applause › Sports › Granma

Douliu Baseball Stadium, that was the stage in which, for the first time, the entire Cuba family took to the field, and beyond the adverse score or the fact that it was not an official game, it tastes like victory this March 5. Not just because of the way they showed up, but because of the excitement of seeing them all as a team, behind the same goal.

Players of the stature of Luis Robert Moirán from Ciego de Avila or Yoán Moncada from Cienfuegos, the powerful arm of Ronald Bolaños from Mayabéquense, or seeing Lorenzo Quintana from Pinar del Río again with Cuban gear, or Andy Ibáñez returning to Cuba after his debut, being very young in the III World Classic, summoned the expectations of the fans.

The director Armando Johnson left no room for surprises by aligning with the formation that most of the fans, specialists or journalists, had already groped, in a social mosaic that begins to shake the dawn of the Greater Antilles.

Roel Santos, in the right field; Moncada, in third; Luis Robert, in the central forest; Alfredo Despaigne, designated, who if not in that responsibility of fourth wood; Yoenis Céspedes, in left field; Quintana, behind home plate; Erisbel Arruebarruena, in shortstop; Yadir Drake, irreplaceable at first base, and Andy Ibáñez, at second. That was the proposal that, despite the 4-5 loss against the Rakuten Monkeys, of Chinese Taipei professional baseball, did not look bad on the grass.

Although there was no television broadcast, the reports from the headquarters and the follow-up, from his Facebook profile, made by a colleague from Radio Rebelde, Guillermo Rodríguez Gato, reported an offensive of ten hits, three of them, including a double and one promoted, authored by Despaigne, in our opinion, one of the best news items in the Taichung evening and in the Cuban morning.

Moncada compiled two hits in four at-bats, while Céspedes had one in two, and Quintana went 1-for-3. Ibáñez got two machine guns (a biangular included) in three times at bat. From the starting formation, Roel Santos (4-0) did not score hits; Robert (2-0), although those two contacts were very good; Arruebarruena (4-0), and Drake, with the same balance as the shortstop.

Even though five of the nine starters barely had 48 hours of adaptation to a time difference of 13 hours, which weighs a world in the physical order in organisms subjected to high rigors, it must be said that caste and class filled the uniforms of the four letters.

Yet once again, the team, complete family and all, had a hard time producing. They hit ten hits, but left seven men on the bases and on three occasions, although they didn’t wait for the right arm, they were liquidated by double plays. That has been, in the offensive order, the lowest point in the preparation matches.

Johnson sent Bolaños to the mound for the start; in two and a third he allowed two clean ones, in the third he allowed two hits, but it was the loss of the zone (one base and one ticket) that led to the tie in that inning and the Monos went up.

Lefties Liván Moinelo and Onelkis García were immaculate. The man from Pinar del Río threw a chapter with two strikeouts without allowing liberties, and García from Guantanamo got the three outs through strikes.

Carlos Juan Viera from Las Tunas and Yoanis Yera from Matanzas also pitched. The easternmost accepted two scores, with three hits, a walk and a strikeout. The yumurino recorded the decisive one, after two hits.

As the baseball players from the mlb seek their acclimatization, the Cuban high command demanded the entire match route, and consequently the catcher Ariel Martínez, the infielders Yurisbel Gracial and Dayán García, as well as the outfielder, Yoelkis Guibert, saw action. .

In the match, of eight innings, since the agreed time of three hours ran out, without winning, the Cuba team liked it and showed its potential. Now he only has to express himself at the right time.

Today, at 11 pm, the Cuba family will play, against the Brothers, also from the Chinese Taipei professional league, their last preparation challenge, before the premiere in the V World Classic, against the Netherlands.