Havana, Aug 7 (Prensa Latina) Right-handers Norge Luis Vera and Valeri García tossed a no hitter and Cuba beat Panama 13-0 to remain unbeaten in a baseball exhibition tourney in Havana with view to the World Baseball Championship Holland 2005 in september.


Vera, who was the winner, started the game, faced 16 batters and struck out two before García took the mound on the sixth and pitched for two innings. The game finished under the ten-run-lead rule.



Panama´s starter Rafael Medina, who lost the game, allowed five runs, four of them earned before he was ejected in the third. Reliever Alberto Acosto also took a lot of bashing from Cuban hitters. He accepted 8 hits and 5 runs.



In the first game of Saturday´s double header, the home team overpowered Puerto Rico 9-0 with left-hander Adiel Palma claiming victory. Palma, who was in Athens 2004, worked for 5 innings allowing 2 singles.



On Friday, the Cubans routed Panamanians 9-1 in the morning. They were backed by a quality relief of lefthander Norberto Gonzalez and homers by outfielders Yoandri Urgelles, Roger Poll and Yulieski Gourriel.



In the evening, they fought hard to defeat Puerto Rico 8-7. They took a 7-1 lead in the first four innings but Puerto Ricans struggled to score five runs on top of the fifth inning to be one run behind.



However, Cubans added another run at the bottom of that inning to seal their win.



Starter Ormany Romero, lifted from the mound on the fifth, was replaced by young lefthander Yulieski Gonzalez, who struck out eight in 4/1 innings.



So far the host team has won five straight games. On Sunday, Puerto Rico is facing Panama in the first game of the double header, and then will bang head with the Cubans.