Exhibition Game - Cuba shave a win

Tigers second exhibition game saw them lose to Cuba narrowly after taking a lead. This was very much a second string side with lots of up and coming players being given a chance. Conrad in scoring in the Japan game ignored the third base coach who was signaling for him to stop. The coach Yoshitake was not too pleased but hey it was the winning run and Conrad showed a good turn of speed. It might be a good idea for someone to have a word with Yoshitake along the lines of 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'.

Standridge started for Tigers pitching to Shimizu - surprising not to see Fujii. This pairing was effective with no Cuban runs coming from the first three innings. Tigers though got off to a good start. Araki leading off singled and then stole second. Despaigne (Cuba's starter) walked Conrad (batting third) and Ryota Arai to load the bases. Murton hit a single which brought home 2 runs but was out trying to go for second 2-0 Tigers. This is how the first ended. The game was then quiet until the top of the fifth. Kojima was the pitcher and gave up a lead off single to Arruebarreuna followed by a double to Heredia. Fernandez walked to load the bases. Gourriel struck out but Cepedia singled bringing in two runs 2-2 runners on first and third. Despaigne hit a sacrifice fly to give Cuba the lead 3-2 and that was the scoring. Tigers did have a chance to even it in the sixth but Shibata was out at home. Kubo closed for Tigers pitching to Komiyama who was brought on to replace Shimizu. The latter didn't have a particularly good game with a nasty error in the first innings.