Caracas, February 8 – Cuba faces a decisive day today against the Club Daom from Argentina and announces right-hander Randy Cueto as the pitcher for the continuation of the Gran Caracas 2026 Americas Series.
The mound will this time be an altar of redemption. After two consecutive losses—first against the León Lions from Nicaragua and then against the hosts Navegantes de Magallanes—the Cuban team arrives in urgent need of a win to avoid being at the mercy of the schedule and to hold on to the thread leading to the semifinals.
The management trusts in the calm arm of Randy Cueto, a pitcher who carries experience and inspiring numbers. With six National Series in his resume and an international stint with Milano in the Italian Serie A baseball league, Cueto comes off an excellent season in domestic competition.
There he posted a flawless record: seven wins without losses, opposing batting average of only .211, 73 innings pitched, 15 earned runs allowed, and an ERA of 2.34. To that he adds surgical control: only 2.71 walks per nine innings.
Control has precisely been Cuba’s open wound in Caracas. In the 8-4 loss to Venezuela, the pitchers issued 12 walks, a fault that, according to bench coach Noelvis González, proved lethal: “We are really a team that has no defense against walks. Twelve walks. We started ahead and could not hold the lead. That is a problem.”
González went further and pointed to the root of the shipwreck: “The starting pitcher didn’t make it, he had to reach at least the fourth or fifth inning. The game shifted from there, it was tied, and we did not know how to hold the lead. The runs weren’t scored by them; we scored them ourselves.”
Now the tone of the speech changes, between self-criticism and hope. “Any team that in a full count has positive actions has the right to win. In that sense, you also have the right to lose the game,” reflected the coach while asking fans for patience and reminding that this is only “the second game these guys are playing.”
On the other side is the Club Daom, pointed out as the weakest rival in the tournament, but already capable of shaking logic after beating the Willemstad Cannons, representatives of Curaçao. A clear warning: in Caracas, no one is harmless and every confidence is paid for with runs.
This Sunday at the Monumental, Cuba clings to Cueto’s arm like someone grasping a plank amid a shipwreck. If control returns, the island can still write a new chapter; if not, the tournament may close like a door of no return.
