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THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : United States Snaps Cuban Baseball Team’s 33-Game Win Streak

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Times Staff Writer

Ty Griffin is a reluctant leadoff batter from Georgia Tech who would rather be known as a power hitter. He was one Saturday, when he hit two home runs, including one with a man on base in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the United States a 6-4 victory over Cuba.

Griffin’s two-out home run over the left-field wall stunned the Cubans, who had won 33 straight games in Pan American Games competition since losing to the United States in the 1967 gold medal game, the only time the United States has won the Pan American Games baseball championship, the only time Cuba has lost it.

As Griffin rounded the bases, a Bush Stadium crowd of 11,102 chanted, “USA, USA,” and a Dixieland band played, “God Bless America.”

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But in the press trailer later, U.S. Coach Ron Fraser tried to put the game in perspective.

“It was a great ballgame to win,” said Fraser, University of Miami coach for the last 25 years. “But we didn’t win anything.

“I said, ‘Do we get some kind of medal for this?’ They said, ‘No, you have to play some more games.’ ”

The United States, the only unbeaten team among seven in the competition at 5-0, has to play two more games in the round-robin tournament. The four teams with the best records then advance to the Friday semifinals. If the United States and Cuba (4-1) meet again, it probably will be in next Saturday’s final.

“We can’t feel like the sky has fallen on top of us,” Cuban left fielder Lourdes Gurriel said through an interpreter. “For years, it’s been easy for us. It was good to lose a game.

“This prepares us better for the important game, and we will win the important game.”

The Cuban coach, Higino Velez, indicated at the outset that this was not the game he wanted, starting a pitcher other than his best, left-hander Pablo Abreu. After shutting out Puerto Rico last Monday in Cuba’s 1-0 victory, Abreu was available to start Saturday. But Velez apparently did not want to give the U.S. hitters a look at Abreu until it was absolutely necessary.

Velez changed his mind in the ninth inning, sending Abreu to the mound in relief of right-hander Rogelio Garcia.

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After the United States scored two runs in the first one-third of an inning against starter Jorge Valdes, Garcia pitched the next 7 innings, allowing only 4 hits and 2 runs.

The first of those runs against Garcia came on Griffin’s two-out, solo home run in the seventh inning, which left the Cubans with a 4-3 lead.

The United States tied it in the eighth on one of the tournament’s stranger plays.

Tampa University’s Tino Martinez, who hit .647 with 17 runs batted in during the first four games, led off the eighth with a double, his ninth extra-base hit of the week. He had his 18th RBI in the first inning.

Cleanup hitter Mike Fiore of the University of Miami then dragged a bunt down the first base line, forcing the pitcher, Garcia, to cover first. Fiore and Garcia reached the bag almost simultaneously and collided, sending Garcia sprawling with the ball still in his glove.

While U.S. first base coach Jerry Weinstein argued the play at first, and Garcia tried to get back on his feet, Martinez, who went from second to third on the bunt, sneaked home with the tying run.

Even though Weinstein was on the field while play was in progress, the Cubans did not protest.

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“The guy was lying down on the ground with the ball still in his glove, and nobody called time out,” Fraser said. “Naturally, Tino had to run.”

Cuba had taken a 4-2 lead on two two-run home runs, one by designated hitter Orestes Kindelan in the fourth inning and the other by third baseman Omar Linares in the fifth, off U.S. starter Gregg Olson from Auburn University.

But reliever Cris Carpenter from the University of Georgia replaced Olson to begin the sixth and allowed only one hit in the final four innings.

That was the same combination, Olson for five and Carpenter for four, that beat the Cubans in the final game of a five-game exhibition series last month in Havana. The United States won two games in that series, left-hander Jim Abbott earning the victory in the other, giving the team a considerable amount of confidence entering this tournament.

“Years ago, they had only one or two good pitchers,” Gurriel said. “Now they have many more.”

When Abreu got the first two men out in the bottom of the ninth, extra innings appeared inevitable.

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But on an 0-and-2 pitch to the last man in the U.S. order, Larry Lamphere, Abreu threw a curveball that broke inside. Lamphere stuck his shoulder into the pitch. The day before, in a victory against the Netherlands-Antilles, Lamphere did the same thing. But the umpire wouldn’t allow him to take first base. This time, the umpire, Anibal Rosario of Puerto Rico, did.

Abreu shook his head in disgust, but, again, the Cubans did not protest.

That brought up Griffin, who after hitting a home run earlier in the week against Venezuela, asked Fraser if he could bat third.

“I told him, ‘Your job is to get on base, bunt, run the bases,’ ” Fraser said. “I should have listened to him.”

The other U.S. players don’t know what to make of Griffin, calling him “Wily Cat” because he always seems to come through with whatever the team needs, whether it is little ball or big ball.

A switch-hitter, his first home run Saturday came from the left side, the second from the right.

“I was looking for a fastball,” Griffin said of the game-winner. “It seemed like I had a slow bat all day. I was surprised when he brought a curveball over the plate. After I hit it, I wanted to just stand there and blow.”

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The ball didn’t need any help.

After the game, the Cuban players left their dugout to congratulate the Americans.

“That was a class act,” Fraser said.

But Carpenter said he overheard a couple of Cuban players call the U.S. team lucky.

“There was a lot of pressure on us today, and the game meant nothing,” Carpenter said. “If we happen to make it to the finals, and they happen to make it, that’s going to be big time.”

For some spectators, Saturday was big time. As they escorted the umpires off the field, two of the Indianapolis Police Department’s finest gave each other high fives.

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