Cuba announces starter for semifinal in World Baseball Classic

The Cuban team announced Friday left-hander Roennis Elías as the starting pitcher in its semifinal game of the V World Classic, which will take place on Sunday in the U.S. city of Miami.

The management of the team, led by seasoned strategist Armando Johnson, opted for Elías, who plays for the Chicago Cubs in the top level of baseball in the United States (MLB), and has already seen action starting in the second game of the tournament against Italy.

Although the Cuban team did not win the game against the Europeans, Elías was solid on the mound with five scoreless innings, only three hits, and he struck out five opponents with only 67 pitches.

After that defeat, Cuba won two victories that led to a five-way tie in the A qualifying group, from where it came out on top and later defeated Australia 4-3 in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals.

For the Cubans, this is the second opportunity to reach the top four of the competition, after achieving it in 2006 (first edition), where they advanced to the final and ended up losing to Japan in the title match.

Cuba will play its semifinal match on Sunday at the Loan Deport Park in this city, against an opponent that will come out of the match between the United States and Venezuela on Saturday.