The 11-1 whipping given to Thailand at the hands of Cuba (6-0)  has to be considered a minor victory for the South East Asian team, appearing in its first World Cup. Past games have included an 18-0 drubbing by Canada and a 16-0 loss to the Netherlands.

 
Vladimir Banos-Chacon

Cuba was powered by third-baseman Yukiesky Gourriel-Castillo, who homered twice, and pitcher Vladimir Banos-Chacon who picked up the win, striking out eight in five innings of work. The game was called in the seventh due to the mercy rule.

On Wednesday Cuba will face off with The Netherlands (4-2), who in topping  Korea (3-3), assured  the Dutch  entry into the second round. Korea can still advance with a win over Germany (1-5) and a Canadian (4-2)  loss to Australia (5-1).

Team USA  won its fifth game and continue to  benefit from a torrid World Cup by Andy LaRoche,  who drove in three more runs to lead the Americans to a 4-2 win over the South African team who fell to 0-6. The U.S. used six pitchers, including Matt Wright who gave up just one hit in three innings.

The U.S. team will try to clinch group A by beating the host  Chinese Taipei (5-1)  team, that drilled Panama  10-0 a day after beating Italy 1-0 in a makeup game on Monday. Panama (3-3) can still advance,  and are tied with Mexico and Italy, who  will face one another in a do-or-die game  Wednesday evening.

On Tuesday Italy was shutout for the second concecutive game, losing 10-0 to Japan (4-2). The Italians have failed to score a run for 21 consecutive innings.