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According to baseball writer Yordano Carmona,
Prieto "escaped" from the team hotel in Miami and the team plane
returned home without him on board. According to the Miami
Herald, the team took an early flight home only hours after the
game in part to limit the amount of time a potential defector
would have to get away from the team.
MLB writer Francys Romero added that Prieto was picked up from
the team hotel by his brother sometime between the team's
arrival there and when it left for the airport.
Nonetheless, according to the Herald, the Cuban team was greeted
by President Miguel Diaz-Canel upon arrival in Havana, then was
cheered on on the streets as the bus headed to the
Latinoamericano baseball stadium in the nation's capital for
another welcoming ceremony -- all part of what the Herald called
a "carefully choreographed political display of support for the
team when it returned to the island."
Prieto did not play in the WBC, being added to the team
specifically to be bullpen catcher. Reportedly 26 years old,
Prieto played eight seasons in Cuba's National Series -- the
country's top baseball league -- with the Sabuesos de Holguín
and Alazanes de Granma.
Cuba advanced to the semifinals of the WBC before losing 14-2 in
Miami on Sunday night. The game is believed to be Cuba's first
in Miami in at least 63 years.
--Field Level Media
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