Cuba Takes Pan-Am Gold in Baseball Despite Defection

Cuba shrugged off another defection and went on to beat the United States, 5-1, Monday night for the gold medal in baseball at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada.

Orestes Kindelan, the leading home run hitter in Cuban league history, hit two as the Cubans won their eighth consecutive Pan-Am title despite the defection of 19-year-old pitcher Danys Baez late Sunday night.

Kindelan, who was three for 25 in the tournament, hit a two-out homer in the fourth off starter Brad Penny for a 1-0 lead. The next batter, Gabriel Pierre, followed with another homer. That was enough for starter Jose Contreras, who struck out eight in a row in the first three innings and finished with 13 strikeouts.

Both the United States and Cuba qualified for the 2000 Olympics by making the final.

Canada, despite the best record in the tournament, 6-1, got only a bronze medal and no trip to the Olympics. The Canadians beat Mexico, 9-2, Monday.

After Baez became the eighth Cuban athlete to defect, the country’s delegation insisted that organizers tighten security.

In other Monday competition, the U.S. under-18 women’s national soccer team advanced to the gold-medal game by shutting out Costa Rica in a semifinal, 2-0. The U.S., which outshot Costa Rica, 34-1, will play Mexico in Thursday’s final.

In basketball, the U.S. women couldn’t hold onto a 16-point lead and lost to Brazil, 77-72, in pool play. In swimming, Ed Moses of the U.S. won a gold in the 100-meter breaststroke in a Pan-Am record of 1 minute 0.99 seconds.

Hockey

Free-agent left wing Wendel Clark signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Defenseman Dave Karpa agreed to a one-year contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. . . . The Buffalo Sabres re-signed forward Geoff Sanderson and defensemen James Patrick and Jason Holland. . . . The Philadelphia Flyers signed left wing Mike Maneluk to a one-year contract.

Soccer

In Stjorn, Iceland, the U.S. women’s under-21 national team opened Nordic Cup play by defeating Finland, 1-0, on a 22nd-minute goal by Notre Dame’s Jen Streiffer. . . . The French-league Monaco team has signed midfielder Rafael Marquez of Mexico’s Atlas club for close to $6 million, Atlas President Alberto de la Torre said. . . . U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller agreed to a two-year contract with Rayo Vallecano of Spain’s first division and is expected to join the team this week.

Golf

Lee Westwood shot a 65 and won the European Open golf tournament at Dublin, Ireland, after Darren Clarke failed to protect a six-stroke lead. . . . Matt Kuchar, the 1997 U.S. Amateur champion, and 1998 runner-up Tom McKnight were put on the U.S. Walker Cup team for the Sept. 11-12 event in Ireland.

Miscellany

Christian Fittipaldi, who won his first CART champ car race three weeks ago, was hospitalized after being knocked unconscious in an accident while testing at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. He regained consciousness en route to the hospital but will miss Sunday’s race in Detroit because of a CART rule mandating a minimum seven-day rest after a driver is knocked unconscious.

Maurice Greene equaled Ben Johnson’s 12-year-old meet record of 10.05 seconds in the 100 meters, then beat Carl Lewis’ stadium mark in the 200 for an impressive double in the MAI Galan track meet at Malmo, Sweden. Greene ran the 200 in 20.16, 0.11 seconds faster than Lewis in 1983.

Jim Courier coasted to a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 victory over Rainer Schuttler of Germany on the opening day of the $2.45-million du Maurier Open at Montreal. Michael Chang rallied to beat Slovakia’s Jan Kroslak, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. . . . Top-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia was knocked out of the $475,000 Grolsch Open at Amsterdam, losing, 6-2, 6-3, to France’s Arnaud di Pasquale.

At Houston, Sheryl Swoopes had 26 points and Cynthia Cooper added 22 points as the Comets held off the Sacramento Monarchs, 75-70, in a WNBA game. . . . At Auburn Hills, Mich., Nikki McCray came back after dislocating a finger on her left hand to score 14 second-half points in the Washington Mystics’ 75-70 victory over the Detroit Shock. . . . At Minneapolis, Sonja Tate and Andrea Lloyd-Curry, scoreless in the first half, combined for 16 points during a second-half run to lead the Minnesota Lynx over the Phoenix Mercury, 73-56. . . . At Charlotte, N.C., Andrea Stinson scored 18 points to help lead the host Sting over the Cleveland Rockers, 62-56.