Cuba crushed China 17-1 in Olympic baseball on Wednesday with the trouncing called to a halt in the seventh inning under the sport's mercy rule.
China finished the preliminary round with a record of one win and six defeats after being handed a tough lesson in modern baseball with Elier Sanchez and Jonder Martinez pitching two shut-out innings each.
Cuba's hitters were merciless with 20 hits in the seventh inning, including three home runs, while Giorbis Duvergel smacked a grand slam home run as the Caribbean side raced to a 7-0 lead by the end of the second inning.
Li Lei scored China's only RBI in the top of the seventh for his team’s only run.
Despite the mauling China manager James Lefebvre insisted that the game could flourish in future in the country.
‘The team has been together for five years. We've accomplished a lot but there's still a long way to go,’ said the American who even sees a time when China take a gold in the sport.
‘There are great athletes in China. What do they have at the moment? 40 golds? It takes time. The girls gymnastics team took 50 years to get gold.
‘We need to develop the programme in China. We need to develop young players so that they will ready for the next Olympics.’
South Korea and Cuba have already made sure of first and second place in the eight-team competition with the USA to face Japan later Wednesday.
They have identical 4-2 records.
The winner of that game will face Cuba in the semi-finals with Korea waiting for the loser.
