Cuba 4 - 3 Australia
By a familiar scoreline against a familiar foe, and at a familiar venue for that matter, Cuba punched their first semi final ticket since the inaugural WBC in 2006.
As was the case when they met in 2017, it was a close, hard-fought affair ultimately decided by a deeper Cuban bullpen. The duo of Livan Moinelo and Raidel Martinez proved decisive in ensuring Australia could not mount a comeback.Cuba also got two RBI from Yoelkis Guibert and another two hits from a suddenly hot Yoan Moncada. Yadiel Rodriguez gave a solid 3.2 innings in his start, conceding only a run.
Australia’s offense could be summed up in the name Rixon Wingrove. He homered (two-run shot) and singled in a run to drive in all three Aussie runs. Ultimately though, the middle innings proved to be the undoing of the bullpen and Cuba held on to win.
Cuba gets the U.S. next after their win over Venezuela in a matchup fraught with political and cultural undertones, made all the juicier by the fact that it will go down in Miami of all places. The Aussies cap off a historically good WBC by going 3-2 and reaching the last eight for the first time. All in all, a very good run.
Japan 9 - 3 Italy
With the DR out, the mantle of favorite now falls on Samurai Japan and they did not disappoint, cruising to victory over Italy. The Italians gave a spirited fight but were ultimately overwhelmed.
Shohei Ohtani was sharp through four scoreless innings but suddenly seemed to lose his command in the fifth, hitting two batters and ultimately being pulled with two out. By the end, Italy had made a 4-0 game 4-2 but would never get so close again. Yu Darvish would concede a solo homer but this was academic. This was Kazuma Okamoto day, with him homering and driving in five runs. The Red Sox will rub their hands in glee seeing Masataka Yoshida drive in two more runs to become the first to reach double digits at this WBC. And watch out, Munetaka Murakami is starting to heat up, going 2-3 and scoring three runs.
Italy got a pair off Ohtani with a two run single from Dominic Fletcher. (brother of Ohtani’s Angel teammate David) Fletcher would then homer off Darvish for the first Italy homer of the WBC. However, Italian pitching simply had no answer for the Japanese offense, especially Yoshida and Okamoto. The middle innings were especially rough.
Japan gets Mexico, fresh off a historic win over Puerto Rico. The Japanese have the pressure of being favorites, but also the mettle to pull off the deed and get back to the WBC final for the first time since winning it all in 2009. Italy bows out after going 3-2 and reaching the second round for only the second time in their history. A solid showing for Mike Piazza and crew.
Mexico 5 - 4 Puerto Rico
Mexico have reached uncharted territory in the WBC in spite of being without pieces like Alejandro Kirk, Andres Munoz and Ramon Urias. They’ve knocked out two-time finalist Puerto Rico in spite of an early 4-0 deficit to reach their first semi-final.
Julio Urias was very shaky early on, with Puerto Rico picking him apart early and often in the first inning before landing the two big blows in homers by Javy Baez and Eddie Rosario. Manager Benji Gil, who faced scathing criticism after the Tokyo Olympics, chose to stick with Urias and was proven right as he would settle down for the next three frames. Another good decision was to bring in young Cubs starter Javier Assad who dealt with the next three innings. Meanwhile, the Mexico offense slowly chipped away and an Isaac Paredes homer and an Alex Verdugo single to cash in a run. The explosion came in the seventh though off Alexis Diaz. Diaz struggled with command and after Jorge Lopez almost delivered him Isaac Paredes and Luis Urias tagged him for run scoring hits. 5-4 Mexico now. Puerto Rico almost got the lead back when Randy Arozarena made THE CATCH of the tournament, saving the lead and allowing Giovanny Gallegos to close out a historic win in Miami.
Puerto Rico got off to a fast start. Baez and Rosario hammered the point home off Urias with homers in the very first inning. It was 4-0 Puerto Rico before Mexico had even hit and big game baller Marcus Stroman had not yet thrown a pitch. By the time Stro had exited the game, it was 4-2 and the game seemed reasonably safe with a strong PR bullpen ready to take over, even without Edwin Diaz. Alas, his younger brother simply did not have it on this night and after loading the bases he was pulled. Jorge Lopez got a pop-up and a strikeout, but two quick hits flipped the script from 4-2 to 5-4. There was no scoring thereafter.
Mexico gets heavy favorite Japan in the semi-final. Do not sleep on Mexico though. They upset the U.S. and now Puerto Rico for a reason and could easily pull another upset of Japan to reach their first ever final. Puerto Rico will consider this campaign disappointing, but to be fair, they escaped the group of death even without Carlos Correa, Jose Miranda and a few other pieces, and knocked out rivals Dominican Republic.
USA 9 - 7 Venezuela
This Latin soap opera of a game had about as many twists and turns as a game of baseball can have. In the end, the Americans kept their title defense alive and Trea Turner would do well to look at a presidential run in 2024.
It began about as well as it could have, with the Americans pounding out three runs in the first and knocking Martin Perez out before the inning was up. The Americans would poke across two more and hold a 5-2 lead as Lance Lynn turned the ball over to Daniel Bard with only blemish being a two-run homer allowed. Bard simply had no command on this night and by the time he was pulled in favor of Jason Adam, Venezuela had the bases loaded and the score was 5-3 with none out. It is perhaps a minor miracle that Adam was able to keep the score to 6-5 with help from a fine play by Tim Anderson at second. Luis Arraez homered for a second time off David Bednar before the Americans worked the bases loaded in the eighth with none out. Jose Quijada was logically pulled but not for Jose Alvarado as expected, but for Silvino Bracho. Bracho got ahead 0-2 on Trea Turner before fatally missing his spot on an 0-2 changeup resulting in disaster. Turner got all of it and a 7-5 Venezuela lead became a 9-7 final score. Devin Williams and Ryan Pressly closed out the final six outs.
Venezuela got back into the game riding the coattails of Luis Arraez who looked rather comfortable at Loan Depot Park, his new home with the Marlins. He homered twice even tough power is not his trademark. Andres Gimenez also had a couple of hits and some fine defensive work. All was not well as they came back in the fifth though, as Jose Altuve took a fastball off the hand and appears to have a broken thumb. Pitching was an issue throughout and other than maybe Jose Ruiz and Luis Garcia, there were plenty of headaches for Omar Lopez to manage through. The key moment in retrospect appears to have been the fact that with the bases loaded in the eighth, Jose Alvarado was not fully warm and Bracho got the ball. In all fairness, Bracho got out of the inning without further damage, but the one pitch where he missed his spot will be the memory unfortunately for him.
The Americans will host Cuba in a game fraught with politics. It will also be a dilemma for many locals in Miami. Do they support the country of their ancestors or the country where they live and in many cases were born, which afforded them an escape from the Castro regime and the now sixty plus years of hardship? The Cuban national team divides opinions in Miami and expect much talk of this ahead of the game. Venezuela are again out before the semi-finals in spite of having romped through the group of death and a rather cruel twist of fate. Their campaign will be considered disappointing, but I would not really consider that fair given the overall body of work.
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