US beats Cuba 5-3 at baseball World Cup; Venezuela, Canada and Puerto Rico also win

US beats Cuba 5-3 at baseball World Cup

ROME — Former major leaguer Terry Tiffee hit his fourth home run of the baseball World Cup and the United States beat Cuba 5-3 on Thursday in a likely preview of this weekend’s final.

The United States stretched its winning streak to 12 games after opening the tournament with a loss to Venezuela.

Lucas Harrell earned the win, allowing only one hit over four innings. Ehren Wasserman got the save, giving up one hit in 2 1-3 innings.

Tiffee played this season in Triple-A for Philadelphia. He previously played for Minnesota and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Venezuela beat Australia 9-4, Canada downed the Netherlands 11-5 and Puerto Rico defeated Taiwan 8-2.