Cuban stars enjoying life on other side
Champions’ Duarte and Malleta square off against former mates
There was a time when Alexander Malleta and Donal Duarte might have been in the lineup of the Cuban baseball team touring through the Can-Am League.
Now, though, Duarte and Malleta are Ottawa Champions tasked with trying to play well and help the Champions defeat their national squad as often as possible during a three-game weekend series at RCGT Park.
“For us, we were on the other side most of the time, so to play against them, it’s a good feeling,” Malleta, a 39-year-old first baseman, said through a translator before batting practice Friday. “It gives us the other perspective. We were with that team, but now we will see it from other eyes. We will see their weaknesses, their strengths. It’s kind of different.”
The Cubans are slightly more than one-third into a 19-game swing through six Can-Am cities. They were 1-3 against the Quebec Capitales and 1-2 against the TroisRivières Aigles leading into their matchup with the Champions, believed to be the first time any Cuban squad has been in Canada’s capital since the Havana Sugar Kings and Ottawa Athletics were both in the International League in 1954.
Still ahead for the Cubans are series against the Sussex County Miners, Rockland Boulders and New Jersey Jackals, followed by a one-game matchup with the Shikoku Island Japanese All-Stars at Trois-Rivières, Que., on July 2.
Shikoku Island is on a similar journey. After going 3-4 against Sussex County and New Jersey, the All-Stars are in Rockland this weekend before visiting Quebec City, Trois-Rivières and Ottawa. They’ll face the Champions June 28-30.
“You want to play well,” Duarte, a 33-year-old third baseman, said through interpreter Antoine Desrosiers. “The thing is I know it’s my friends, I know it’s people we used to play against every day. We are supposed to be on that (Cuban) team.
“Despite the fact that we are friends, we want to win with the Champions because the Champions are our team and we want to win with the Champions no matter what.”
The Cubans ran into mechanical problems with the bus bringing them to Ottawa Friday, so they had time only for a quick stop at their hotel before arriving at the stadium already in uniform, slightly less than an hour before scheduled game time.
There was no time for batting or fielding practice.
Even so, Malleta said he had rising expectations for his countrymen.
“The adaptation was difficult because it was colder in Quebec (City) and Trois-Rivières than this weekend,” Malleta said. “The team is basically the same force, the same strength. They have good pitching. As soon as the game will start, they will get better. Tomorrow they will get better than today and Sunday they will get better than Saturday. It will go like this through the end of the trip through Canada and the United States.”
Regulars with the Industriales and Pinar del Rio as recently as the 2015-16 season in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, Malleta and Duarte signed with the Champions in midMay, but missed the first 11 games of the Can-Am season because of visa requirements.
The Champions split the first 16 contests with the two Cubans in the lineup, but they added another victory to their total and improved to 13-15 overall, in fourth place and six games out of top spot, with a 6-1 triumph on Friday.
Duarte went 0-for-4, dropping his team-leading batting average to .309, but he also walked once and scored a run. Malleta was 0-for-1, dropping his average to .237, but he drew three walks from Cuban pitchers.
Outfielder Matt Helms led the Champions offensively with two of their eight hits overall and three runs scored, while starting pitcher Austin Chrismon (2-2) went six innings and three relievers kept the visitors from getting back in the contest, which attracted a crowd of 5,262 spectators, including Cuba’s ambassador to Canada, Julio Garmendia Pena.
Pena, who also attended two matches at Quebec City last weekend, said during a first-inning interview the current tour marked the national team’s initial appearance in North America since the improvement in relations between Cuba and the United States.
“It’s the first time that our players can play officially on behalf of their country (in the U.S.) without the need to defect to be able to play, which is very important,” Pena said. “It’s a dream come true. Maybe three years ago, when I came here, I didn’t expect that could happen, but it’s happening today.”
The Cuban lineup Friday featured eight players who either resided in Pinar del Rio or played with Duarte with that club in 201516, while infielder Juan Carlos Torriente was an Industriales teammate of Malleta.
There’s a reception for them planned for Ottawa City Hall on Saturday morning, followed by a Parliament Hill tour. There will also be a post-game reception Sunday.
Game 2 in the series starts Saturday at 7 p.m., followed by a fireworks show. The finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1:35 p.m.