Down to  its final  strike, Cuba’s Frederich Cepeda Cruz  (pictured above) hit a game tying  home run over the left field fence to send its opening game with Australia into  extra innings.  Osmani Urrutia  followed in the 12th with another big fly to give Cuba a  narrow 3-2 victory.

In other action Jeff Karstens, who made three starts for the  Yankees this year,  combined with four relievers   on a  3-0 shutout of Mexico by Team USA.  Andy LaRoche added 2 RBIs for the Americans.

Appearing in its first ever World Cup Thailand was hammered for a 10-run 6th  frame as the  Europe’s top team, The Netherlands cruised to a 16-0 win. In other action: Canada was  shutout by Korea 5-0,  Panama beat Spain  by the same 5-0 score, Japan whipped South Africa 11-1, and Venzueala  stomped the Germans  8-0.  

Thursday’s  action will  include Team USA playing Panama, Cuba getting a day off versus Germany, and in what should be the best matchup of the day–The Netherlands going up against the  Aussies.

Finally, in other cup news, an enterprising young man had his own Cup dreams deferred as his 5-storey brothel was  shut down by police just hours before  tournament action began.