FUKUOKA, Japan -- Cuba clobbered China 12-0 on Monday to improve to 2-0 in Group A of the World Baseball Classic.
Infielder Jose Abreu drove in five runs, including a grand slam in the sixth inning, when his team scored its last six runs at Fukuoka Dome. The game was called under the tournament's mercy rule after the seventh inning.
Throughout the game, Cuba displayed the type of firepower that makes it one of the title contenders.
Alexei Bell hit a towering two-run homer to left to make it 4-0 in the fourth and Alfredo Despaigne put the result beyond doubt in the same inning when he doubled on a sharp ground ball to left, scoring Jose Fernandez and Frederich Cepeda to make it 6-0.
Fernandez singled in two more runs in the fifth before Abreu's grand slam.
