Cuba gives Korea their first loss

Cuba, the favourite to win the gold medal in the final baseball competition of the Olympic Games, lost for the first time in Beijing 7-4 to Korea Tuesday afternoon. Korean starter Seungjun Song allowed just five hits and three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings to earn his first win of the Olympics and keep Korea unbeaten at 6-0 with one game left in the preliminary round. Cuba is 5-1. The teams will finish 1-2 as they head to the semi finals on Friday.

After Cuba had gone ahead 3-0 in the second inning, Korea exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fourth, as Ko Young-min slapped a go-ahead two-run single to take the lead and the Koreans held the lead the rest of the way with three relief pitchers shutting down the Cubans.