Venezuela 5 - 1 Dominican Republic
The group of death got a little deathier overnight as Venezuela pinned a surprise loss on the pre-tournament favorites. I wouldn't call this an upset really, Venezuela is loaded too but I can understand why people see it that way.
Venezuela actually trailed 1-0 early but clawed back to tie it on an Anthony Santander homer. David Peralta cashed in two on a bases loaded single in the fourth. Venezuela never looked back. Peralta struck again in the sixth with an RBI double (3 RBI for him) and Snatander triple and scored in the eighth on an Eugenio Suarez single. Martin Perez was solid as a starter but the pitching star was Luis Garcia who K'd seven in three innings of hitless relief.
Juan Soto gave the Dominicans an early lead with an RBI single but opportunities were fewer and further between as the game progressed. Reigning Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara was knocked out in the fourth and the other Luis Garcia pitching in this game conceded one more run in relief as did Bryan Abreu.
Venezuela gets heavyweight Puerto Rico next as both look to go 2-0 and get some security in this monster of a group. Dominican Republic face a must win against Nicaragua and must wins probably from here on out.
USA 6 - 2
The American Revolution was re-enacted in Phoenix last night. Like in the real thing, the British had early success but ultimately were defeated.
The early innings were good to Britain with Trayce Thompson hitting a historic solo homer off Adam Wainwright. Vance Worley was good early but the Americans got to him in the third. The fourth inning saw the first Schwarbomb of the tournament. Kyle Schwarber drove in three runs. Nolan Arenado drove in two runs and went 3-5. Wainwright pitched four solid innings in the victory. Kyle Freeland gave up a run in relief UT overall US pitching was solid.
For Team GB, Worley fizzled after two innings and Jake Each had a rough fourth inning. Subsequent British pitchers conceded two more runs. Offensively, they got the Thompson homer and an RBI single by Arfnee Seymour. Defense was sketchy with two errors.
Team USA gets a rivalry match with Mexico next. Team GB gets Canada in a commonwealth battle for king and country.
Korea 7 - 3 Czech Republic
Korea are on the board after two exceedingly poor performances. They got off to a fast start and held on as the Czechs pushed a comeback.
Padres infielder Kim Ha-Seong homered twice in the win. Kang Baek-Ho got two hits, an RBI and a bit of redemption. Kim Hyunsoo drove one in coming off the bench. Park Se-Woong needed to be good and he was, going 4.2 shutout with eight K's to get the win.
The Czechs fell out of it early. Lukas Ercoli struggled mightily getting rocked for six runs in 1.1 innings of work. Credit to Jeff Barto though who gave them 5.2 innings of one run relief to give his team a chance to come back. Offensively, Matej Mensik was again noteworthy with a two run double.
Korea are alive going into their final game against China but need to win and some help from the same Czech team they just played. The Czechs get Australia. If the Czechs win, the tiebreaker may or may not favor them depending on the final scoreline. If they lose, both Czech Republic and Korea are out and Oz will advance with Japan.
Cuba 7 - 1 Taiwan
Cuba once again struck hard and fast at redemption, beating the hosts to finish 2-2 and by tiebreaker advance to the quarter final round.
Cuba got offense again today with national team veterans Roel Santos and Alfredo Despaigne driving in two each. White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada drove in one. Erisbel Arruebarrena drove in the remaining two. Elian Leyva pitched well before being removed due to injury. Fans in Taiwan will see more of him when he debuts for Rakuten Monkeys this coming season in CPBL.
The hosts were done in by poor pitching again. Chen Shih-Peng got rocked early for five runs and the bullpen conceded twice more. Offensively, Yu Chang drove in his eighth run to cement himself as Pool A MVP, a bittersweet honor as his team are now out but he was indeed the best player over these last few days in Taichung.
Every team in Pool A finished 2-2. Cuba got the big break from the tiebreaker scenarios though as they win the group and will face the second place team from Pool B. Taiwan got the short end, and the hosts finished last in spite of also being 2-2. They will have to qualify for the 2026 WBC. But they can be proud of the two wins in front of their fans. Speaking of the fans, Taiwanese fans got to remind the world that baseball is supposed to be FUN. What an atmosphere in those games, even when the home team was losing.
Italy 7 - 1 Netherlands
Mamma mia! With those results, Italy, and every other team in the group finish 2-2 triggering a convoluted set of tiebreaker rules.
Italy again went to Matt Harvey and again followed him up with Andre Pallante and again both were good. In fact, the Italian bullpen logged five innings of scoreless relief behind Harvey. Brewers mega-prospect Sal Frelick pounded in three hits, drove in two and scored one. Nicky Lopez cashed in two more and if not for Yu Chang he's probably Pool A MVP. Miles Mastrobuoni swiped a bag.
For the Netherlands, Mike Bolsenbroek struggled in relief, getting shelled for six runs in 1.2 innings of relief. There simply was no coming back from that. An offense of Xander Bogaerts, Jurickson Profar, Didi Gregorius, Jonathan Schoop et al managed only an RBI by catcher Chadwick Tromp.
With this score, all teams in Pool A finished 2-2. The tiebreak mechanism means qualification to the next round for Italy for just the second time in their history after narrowly losing out to Venezuela in 2017. For the Netherlands, it means a disastrous first round exit for a team that was heavily favored to win the group.
Japan 7 - 1 Australia
Australia finally took a loss in Tokyo at the hands of the hosts. Japan consummate a perfect run through Pool B because of course they do.
Shohei got one good this time, hitting a three run shot to further pad his already impressive rap sheet in this tournament. He finishes with a HR, 8 RBI and of course 4 IP, 0.00 ERA, 7K and 1HA as a pitcher. He is a lock for Pool B MVP with his teammate Masataka Yoshida having an outside shot at it. Japan's new darling Lars Nootbaar added an RBI of his own to give the game a but of pepper. Two-time reigning Sawamura award (Japanese Cy Young award) winner Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave four one hit, scoreless frames to get the win.
For Oz, the lone run came off an Alex Hall solo homer in the ninth. The Aussie pitching staff gave up six runs in three innings but only one thereafter. The lineup was largely subdued by Japanese pitching.
Japan are the obvious favorite to win the whole thing now but let's not get too ahead of ourselves. They will face Italy in the quarter final round which will be tougher than it seems. That said, Shohei Ohtani will likely get the ball and a deep Japanese lineup and pitching staff make for a formidable foe. Australia can join Japan in round two with a win over the Czechs tomorrow and in so doing make national baseball history to book a date against Cuba.
Canada 18 - 8 Great Britain
Oh Canada! We're off and running with a win over the mother country. Already, we have a much better showing than in 2017 and our first ever win by mercy rule. Good stuff!
Canadian bats carved up British pitchers early and often. We scored at least once in every inning; five in the first, one in the second, four in the third, six in the fourth, and one each in the fifth and sixth to set up a mercy rule win after Team GB went scoreless in the top of the seventh. B.C.'s Tyler O'Neill of the Cardinals was literally perfect today going 4-4 plus two walks, scoring four and driving in four runs. Hot prospect Owen Caissie drove in three and homered as did Edouard Julien from my hometown of Quebec City. (On est fier de toi Edouard) Freddie Freeman scored three himself. Abraham Toro drove in three more.
Pitching was poor though. Port Hope's Cal Quantrill got bombed out of the box in the first inning with uncharacteristically poor command. The offense made a winner out of current farmer and former big leaguer Phillippe Aumont of Gatineau. Evan Rutckyj struggled badly also but things settled down from there. Three relievers combined for 3.1 scoreless innings of relief including Port Dover's John Axford, a former Blue Jay.
For Britain, Harry Ford tagged Rutckyj for a three run jack in the fourth. Trayce Thompson again drove in a run. Pitching, however, was atrocious all through the game. Seven pitchers were systematically knocked around by an uncompromising Canadian offense.
Our heroes face our neighbors to the south next. Team USA will be a stern test. Team GB now get Colombia who are riding that stunning win over Mexico. Maybe we get out of round one this time eh.
Israel 3 - 1 Nicaragua
The lowest scoring game I'm covering today was also the most suspenseful. Eventually, a late rally from the Magen David when all looked lost got them off to a winning start in Miami.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer got the ball as expected. The first Israeli citizen and native Hebrew speaker drafted by an MLB team pitched four scoreless in the win. Young prospect Josh Wolf, who had his Bar Mitzvah at the Wailing Wall, conceded what looked like the winning run for much of the game. Zach Weiss and Richard Bleier kept it at 1-0 as the Israeli offense failed time and again with runners on. Enter Jonathan Loaisiga to the roar of a large and loud Nicaragua fan base. All looks lost. But Loaisiga struggles for command and suddenly Blue Jays prospect Spencer Horwitz ties it at 1-1 with an RBI single. Further command woes dog Loaisiga as Garrett Stubbs, Phillies walk off legend comes to the plate, and smacks a ground rule double to make it 3-1. That would be the final score as Robert Stock would tidily close out Nicaragua in the ninth. Consider it a Hanukkah miracle before it's even Passover.
Nicaragua played well and most remarkably pitched well. Starter Ronald Medrano struggled through two innings but did not break, but three relievers formed a scoreless bridge to Loaisiga who surprisingly was unable to keep the lead. The one run came off a Stephen Layton double against Josh Wolf. It was a late collapse and a cruel twist of fate for the debutants but also a very creditable performance that showed they belong on this stage.
Am Israel Chai was being sung and danced at Loan Depot Park in the concourse post-game by the victorious fans, with some accompaniment from Nicaraguan fans. The nation of Israel lives in both ball and bat and they have taken the first step in proving 2017 was no fluke. It only gets harder now with two time finalist Puerto Rico looming. Nicaragua get a Dominican team bent on getting back onto track after an opening loss to Venezuela. The group of death is deathy, and the two supposed minnows both showed against each other to be anything but. Expect the unexpected in this group.
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