Host of World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Panama City stays alive while eliminating Nicaragua on Saturday

Panama City. A surprising Brazil makes it all the way to the final of the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Panama City with a 7-1 win against Colombia. Both teams get 11 hits in the game and both team waste a lot of opportunities. Colombia scores only one run (in the fifth, against reliever Yoshimura) and suffers the first loss of the tournament.

Panama City. A 5 run bottom half of the second inning set the pace for Colombia (8-1) win over Nicaragua in their debut in the Panama City World Baseball Classic Qualifier. Center fielder Steve Brown and shortstop Edgar Renteria got to Nicaragua starter Erasmo Ramirez (Seattle Mariners) and second baseman Solano followed with a 2 run triple and scored himself on a bad relay by Garth.

Panama City. The World Baseball Classic Qualifier at Rod Carew Stadium in Panama City started with a big upset. Led by Hall of Fame manager Barry Larkin Brazil defeated Panama 3-2, scoring the tie-breaking run in the fifth inning.

Having played three games against Chinese Taipei and a selection of players from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) – winning two of the three – Cuba continues its trip through Asia with a pair of games against Japan in Fukuoka and Sapporo on Friday and Sunday.

For the 3rd and final game of this Thunder Series in Chinese Taipei, the Cuban national team wrapped up their visit on a high note with a 16-hit outburst for the 14-7 victory.

Normally hefty Cuban bats have often underperformed in recent international events, causing a good deal of frustration and some widespread carping among loyal Antillean fans back home in the baseball-mad Caribbean nation. The first two games of the current Chinese-Taipei-Cuba exhibition matches seemed to be no exception, with the Cuban League all-stars being held to a mere pair of runs in the first two outings and largely stymied by a talented corps of polished CPBL professional pitchers.

Team Cuba’s much-anticipated November tour of Chinese Taipei and Japan opened this past weekend in Taichung and Taoyuan with a pair of classic pitching duels that provided few on-field fireworks but nonetheless perfectly mirrored the pattern of so many nip-and-tuck Chinese-Taipei-Cuba battles during recent international seasons. Victor Mesa’s charges dropped the series opener Saturday afternoon when surprise starter Yadier Pedroso surrendered a pair of second-inning runs that proved the difference in a 2-1 Taiwan victory.

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.

For the opening game of the Thunder Series, Chinese Taipei got good pitching and defense to edge the Cuba national team 2-1 at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium on Saturday.