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blurb: 'Veteran right-hander Pedro Lazo has more wins than any active pitcher in Cuba, and almost all 209 of the victories have come in a starting role. But he has been used as a reliever during the inaugural World Baseball Classic and he came to the rescue in a huge way Saturday afternoon.',
source: 'MLB.com',
date: '2006-03-18T21:20:00-0500',
byline: 'Jim Street',
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body: 'SAN DIEGO -- Veteran right-hander Pedro Lazo has more wins than any active pitcher in Cuba, and almost all 209 of the victories have come in a starting role. <p /> But he has been used as a reliever during the inaugural World Baseball Classic and he came to the rescue in a huge way Saturday afternoon, helping the Cuban team to a 3-1 victory over the Dominican Republic, which featured a lineup stocked with star Major League players. <p /> Personal preference has taken a back seat with Cuba, which plays either Japan or Korea Monday night at PETCO Park for the Classic championship. A win in that game would replace Saturday\'s shocker as the most significant in the country\'s distinguished baseball history. <p /> The 32-year-old Lazo, conservatively listed at 6-foot-4, 244 pounds, carries a lot of weight on this team. He pretty much carried the team on his back for the last 4 2/3 innings, pitching out of a first-and-third, nobody out jam in the sixth inning with only one run being scored. <p /> And when Cuba scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning, it was up to Lazo to make sure it stood up. He was up to the challenge. <p /> "When you have a starter like (Lazo) who throws that hard (97 mph), it\'s difficult to use someone like that as a relief pitcher," Cuba manager Higinio Velez said. "But all of the pitchers on this team are very good starters and I needed a closer, someone with good control and courage, someone who can deal with a very stressful (job)." <p /> Did he say stressful? <p /> Lazo entered the scoreless Classic semifinal with one out and one on in the fifth inning. He walked the first batter he faced on four pitches and then went to a full count against Dominican center fielder Willy Taveras, the No. 9 hitter. <p /> A strikeout-caught stealing double play ended that scoring threat, but an even more difficult situation faced Lazo in the sixth inning. The first two batters -- Placido Polanco and Miguel Tejada -- singled, putting runners on first and third bases with none out and the heart of the Dominican\'s impressive lineup due to bat -- Albert Pujols, David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre. <p /> The trio has combined to hit 444 big-league home runs and drive in 1,844 runs. <p /> But the only ball that left the infield came when Cuba second baseman Yulieski Gourriel fumbled Beltre\'s two-out grounder and threw the ball so high over first baseman Ariel Borrero\'s head that it hit the screen in front of Cuba\'s dugout on one hop, allowing a run to score. <p /> If that misplay bothered Lazo, it certainly didn\'t show. He promptly induced Moises Alou to hit a grounder to Gourriel and this time an easy out was recorded at first base. <p /> Lazo encountered another little bump in the road in the eighth inning, when the Dominican again put runners on first and third with one out. But this time, Ortiz popped out to shallow right field and Beltre lined out hard to left field. <p /> The last of Lazo\'s 81 pitches struck out pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano for the game-ending out and there was celebration near the mound at PETCO Park -- and all around Havana. <p /> "He made some good pitches and threw a good slider on me, and he just came right at us," Pujols said. "I think that if the ball Ortiz hit to shortstop would have gone through, the ballgame would have been changed." <p /> Cuban shortstop Eduardo Paret was playing to the second base side of the bag against Ortiz, who slashed a grounder to the other side of the base. Paret made a good play getting to the ball and getting a force out at second. <p /> "That\'s the way it goes," Pujols said. "There is no more talking, no more excuses. They played good baseball and beat us." <p /> Lazo, wearing No. 99 on the back of his large jersey, became the center of attention during the on-field celebration after the game\'s final out and now becomes the team\'s biggest cheerleader -- figuratively and literally. The amount of pitches he threw makes him unavailable for Monday night\'s championship game. <p /> Regardless, he did everything possible to help get his team this far. <p /> "I am a starting pitcher when I play for my hometown in Cuba," he said. "Last season, for example, I won 20 games as a starter for my Province team. The pitchers here all have been starters at some point in their careers and right now the manager needed a relief pitcher that could come in and pitch three or four innings. <p /> "We needed a strong stopper, a strong closer, and that\'s what happened." ',
tagline: '<a href="mailto:jim.street@MLB.com"><b>Jim Street</b></a> is a national reporter for MLB.com.',
summary: null,
article_photo: {
    caption: 'Cuba\'s Pedro Lazo reacts after beating the Dominican Republic 3-1 in the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday.',
    credit: 'Andrew T. Malana/MLB.com',
    path: '/images/2006/03/18/fwoC98zq.jpg'
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sub_headline: 'Veteran right-hander flourishes in new role',
alt_headline: 'What a relief: Lazo rescues Cuba',
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headline: 'What a relief: Lazo rescues Cuba'
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