Ariel Martinez and Erisbel Arruebarrena each homered as Cuba got off to a hot start and coasted to a 7-4 win over Colombia in Pool A play of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Martinez and Arruebarrena plated four runs on their first-inning home runs, which staked Cuba (2-0 in Pool A) to a 4-0 lead five batters into the bottom of the first. Yoelkis Guibert was 2-for-3, and Yiddi Cappe added insurance with a two-run triple in the sixth to extend the lead to 7-2.
That offense helped Cuba overcome its pitching staff issuing more walks (10) than strikeouts (nine). Denny Larrondo recorded the victory despite giving up four walks over his two-inning start.
Gio Urshela walked twice and added an RBI single for Colombia (0-3), which got two RBIs from Tito Polo — who was hitless — on a sacrifice fly and hit-by-pitch. Luis Patino was tagged for four runs on two hits in a third of an inning in his start.
Italy 7, Great Britain 4
Andrew Fischer and J.J. D’Orazio’s back-to-back homers helped the Italian national team rally from an early deficit to beat the British team in Houston.
They were two of five Italian players with two hits as the team finished with 12 knocks, including an RBI double from Miles Mastrobuoni and a run-scoring triple from Sam Antonacci. Italy (2-0 Pool B) saw starter Dylan DeLucia issue a pair of run-scoring wild pitches in the first but he struck out five in 3 2/3 innings to spark the team’s 13-strikeout showing by seven different arms.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. had the lone RBI for Great Britain (0-3) on an eighth-inning single. Nate Eaton and Chisholm each finished with two hits in the top two spots of the lineup. Nick Wells took the loss, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits over two-thirds of an inning.
Dominican Republic 12, Netherlands 1 (7)
The Dominican Republic squad (2-0 Pool D) smashed four home runs in a run-rule-shortened demolition of the Dutch national team in Miami.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Junior Caminero, Austin Wells and Juan Soto all homered to account for half of the Dominican team’s eight hits. Luis Severino struck out five and allowed one run over four innings, with three pitchers combining for 11 strikeouts to one walk.
Didi Gregorius smacked a second-inning homer for the Netherlands (1-2), which was held to five hits and 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. Arij Fransen took the loss, allowing three runs on three walks and two hits over two innings.
