Logo of the Caribbean Baseball Cup

Havana, December 12 (JIT) - The Cuban team won the silver medal at the IV Caribbean Baseball Cup in Bahamas 2022, after losing in the Sunday final to Puerto Rico with a 9x4 score.

Armando Johnson's team thus equaled the result achieved by the island last year, when it lost for the gold medal to the then local Curacao.

The Puerto Ricans depended on left-handed starter Jose Carlos Burgos, who had dominated the Cuban bullpen a few days ago during the preliminary stage. This time he was at his best again.

Alexquemer Sanchez gave our team the lead in the second episode thanks to a home run, but in the fourth act, Havana right-hander Pavel Hernandez received three consecutive hits and evened the score.

The new Cuban shooter, Leodán Reyes, gave a ball, a ticket and held three more hits, so that the exponents of the Island of Enchantment rounded off seven scores and marked the fate of the match.

Oscar Rivera gave continuity to the work of the left-hander Burgos with three peaceful innings; while the classic Puerto Rican "puntillas" came in the sixth chapter against Javier Mirabal and in the seventh against Alexander Valiente.

Cuba made up the score with one run in the eighth and two in the ninth. Once again, Alexquemer Sánchez and Luis Vicente Mateo were key players.

The bronze medals went to Curaçao, winner in the decisive game over the hosts Bahamas.

Puerto Rico and Curacao won the two tickets in dispute for the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023, for which Cuba had already qualified before the start of the competition.