U.S. stuns Cuba on dramatic homer By Skip Myslenski Chicago Tribune INDIANAPOLIS- -They were tied at 4 entering the bottom of the ninth, and Cuba's Pablo Abreu trotted in from the bullpen to face the United States. Abreu is his country's finest pitcher, a lithe left-hander who threw a one-hit shutout against Puerto Rico in his only other Pan Am Games appearance, and he quickly struck out designated hitter Rick Hirtensteiner and third baseman Scott Livingstone with sharpbreaking curves. Center-fielder Larry Lamphere, the ninth hitter in the U.S. lineup, came to the plate and immediately fell b behind in the count 0-2. "At that Pan Am Games, Ch. 2, 11 a.m. Pan American Games 1987 point," he said afterward, "I was looking for any way to get on base." Then Abreu threw a curve that kept riding in on the right-hander, and Lamphere rolled into the pitch and took it on the left elbow.. A day earlier, in a game against the Netherlands Antilles, an umpire would not give Lamphere first base after he got hit in the same manner. But on Sat- urday, first base was his. Ty Griffin, the switch-hitting second baseman, now set himself in the right-hander's box. In the seventh, batting left-handed, he had pulled the U.S. to within a run of Cuba with his second home run of the Games, yet here he thought only of keeping the inning going. "But," Lamphere said, "we call him 'Wily Cat' because we don't know what he'll do." What Griffin did to Abreu was jerk a curveball far over Bush Stadium's left-field wall to give the U.S. a dramatic 6-4 victory over Cuba in front standing-room-only crowd of 12,500. "No," Griffin said, "I didn't know it was out. In fact, I wanted to stand there and [and here he started making blowing motions] . ..." "I knew I was going to have to run Lamphere since I knew Ty wasn't going to hit one out," interrupted U.S. coach Ron Fraser, with a smile. "But Abreu- kept throwing fastballs out, so I didn't. Good coaching.' 99 "I was looking for a fastball in since it seemed I had a slow bat all day," continued Griffin. "Surprisingly, he came in with a curve across the plate. I wasn't expecting it, but I adjusted to it." His adjustment gave the U.S. a victory it appeared intent on giving away before Griffin's heroics. In the first inning, Griffin and shortstop Dave Silvestri opened with singles, Continued on page 14'
