Friday was the first full slate of WBC pool play action, and a lot of stuff happened. As expected, there were a lot of blowouts — both because of the fundamental talent mismatch, but also because these games are still Spring Training-y with the pitch count restrictions and the overall dearth of pitching talent, so all it takes is for one subpar pitching performance against a high-quality lineup to let things get out of hand.
If you’re only here to read about the Braves, well:
- Ronald Acuña Jr.: 1-for-4, 2B, BB, K. One flyout would’ve been an extra-base hit at Truist (off the right field wall), another was mashed but right at the center fielder.
- Ozzie Albies: 0-for-4, one hard groundout, two weak groundouts, and a popout.
- Chadwick Tromp: 0-for-3 with a walk, two strikeouts, and a weak flyout.
- Nacho Alvarez Jr.: 1-for-3 with a mashed homer, a walk, and a strikeout.
Alright, onto the games:
Japan 13, Taiwan 0. An expected mercy rule slaughter in this game. Shohei Ohtani doubled in the first but ended up stranded, only to hit a grand slam in the second. Not that the Samurai were done then, as they put up a ten-spot in total in the frame, scoring six more times after the slam. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was pretty meh with a 2/3 K/BB ratio in 2 2/3, but Taiwan didn’t get anything going. Taiwan collected just one hit in this game, though they did draw five walks.
Cuba 3, Panama 1. Of all the games, this one was probably the most tense. Logan Allen got the start for Panama and made a lot of Cuban hitters look silly with five strikeouts in three frames… but he also got popped for two homers: Yoelkis Guibert pulled a laser down the right-field line for a solo shot in the second, and then Yoan Moncada crushed a two-run homer in the next inning. Cuba’s first two pitchers, Livan Moinelo and Yariel Rodriguez, were adept at handling Panama’s bats (six total innings, 7/2 K/BB ratio), but things got more interesting against what I guess is the softer part of Cuba’s bullpen. Emmanuel Chapman labored through four batters in which Johan Camargo knocked in Panama’s only run with a weak single past the infield. Panama got a one-out double in the ninth but that was it. I was really impressed by Panamanian arm Dario Agrazal, who washed out of the minors years ago but dominated the Cuban bats for two very clean frames.
Venezuela 6, Netherlands 2. This game ended up being closer than you’d think given that the relatively unheralded Oranje pitchers had to face down basically an All-Star lineup. Antwone Kelly looked overmatched against the Venezuelan attack, but the game was still just 2-1 after two. Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled on the first pitch he saw and later scored on Luis Arraez spraying one through the infield, but Druw Jones ripped a hard groundball double (on a pitch that wasn’t a strike and probably shouldn’t have been pulled) to plate a run with Ranger Suarez pitching for Venezuela. But, Javier Sanoja took Kelly deep to reclaim the lead.
The next few frames were quiet, but the entry of Jaydenn Estanista (a fringe prospect in the Phillies system) opened the door for Venezuela: HBP, walk, misplayed bunt, walk added a run, and then a couple of singles off Eric Mendez blew the game open. Luinder Avila struggled a bit to start the sixth with a HBP and walk of his own, but it led to just a lone run on a sac fly as Jose Butto came in to restore order. That capped the scoring — Acuña’s hard smash getting caught stopped more scoring by Venezuela, and Daniel Palencia looked destructive as he slammed the door in the ninth.
Mexico 8, Great Britain 2. This was one of those games that arguably shouldn’t have been close at all, but only actually stopped being close/interesting at the end. Boston farmhand Jack Anderson looked great through three frames, his efforts marred only by a Nacho Alvarez Jr. mash job of a solo homer (of all things). In the sixth, Harry Ford returned the favor with a solo shot of his own, and this game was weirdly tied, with Great Britain actually clogging the bases more frequently against real MLB starter Javier Assad than Mexico was able to.
The eighth, though, led to more “restored order” in terms of aligning to expectations. Gary Gill Hill had looked fine in the seventh and struck out the first two in the eighth… only to then walk two straight on ten pitches. That led to his replacement by onetime Braves prospect Tristan Beck to face the lefty-swinging Jonathan Aranda (who had a ..380+ xwOBA last year!!!), and Aranda hit a routine opposite-fit field fly ball that nonetheless went for a three-run homer because the venue for this game included the Crawford Boxes. Mexico then added four more against Graham Spraker and company in the ninth, so in the end, this was a blowout, but it never really felt that way until the end. Mexico used eight different pitchers in this one and they kind of struggled considering the quality of the opposition relative to their own caliber as mostly major leaguers, so that was weird to see.
Puerto Rico 5, Colombia 0. This game was scoreless in every single frame but one. Jose Quintana threw three no-hit innings with a 1/1 K/BB ratio for Colombia, and was replaced by Adrian Almeida, who struck out the Puerto Rican side in the fourth. In the fifth, though, there were three singles and a Gio Urshela error before Almeida recorded an out, and then even more ball-in-play stuff finding holes, such that Puerto Rico jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Unlike their opponents, Colombia never managed to sequence or cluster their baserunners, and didn’t score any runs as a result.
Dominican Republic 12, Nicaragua 3. There was a point… actually two points, where Nicaragua held a lead in this game. But, the heavily favored D.R. team scored nine of its 12 runs in its final three offensive frames. Nicaragua scored three times off Cristopher Sanchez and his defense in the first two innings, and led 3-2 until Julio Rodriguez tied it with a single in the bottom of the third. Junior Caminero’s homer off Stiven Cruz broke the tie in the sixth, while Rodriguez and Oneil Cruz added homers in a six-run eighth. Nicaragua’s pitching staff was understandably overwhelmed (4/7 K/BB ratio) but somehow their batters avoided the strikeout, as a bunch of MLB-quality arms on the D.R. side only managed a 6/2 K/BB ratio (with Sanchez accounting for four of those strikeouts).
USA 15, Brazil 5. Another game that was close until the Stars and Stripes plated seven and nearly doubled their run total in the ninth. Aaron Judge popped a two-run dinger on a 3-0 pitch a few minutes into the game, but Anaheim farmhand Lucas Ramirez took Logan Webb deep in response. Webb largely dominated as expected (6/0 K/BB in four frames), but Brazil’s Victor Masai popped a three-run homer off Michael Wacha (5/0 K/BB in three frames otherwise) to make it a three-run game. Ramirez later connected on a second dinger, this time off Braves legend Gabe Speier. The ninth-inning explosion came against a trio of pitchers without any experience as professionals, as Team USA drew five walks in a single frame along with some hits and whatnot to make it a laugher in the end.
Taiwan 14, Czechia 0. I mean, yeah. Taiwan took a drubbing per the first blurb in this post, and then returned the favor on poor Czechia. Czechia’s beleaguered pitching staff had a 6/8 K/BB ratio and gave up a grand slam to another Braves legend, Stuart Fairchild, in the second. Czechia’s bats did stuff in at least one prior game in pool play but not here, as a quartet of Taiwanese arms posted a 10/1 K/BB ratio, and Czechia only had two runners reach second base, with just one coming after Terrin Vavra’s leadoff double in the first.
There’s another sizable slate of games on Saturday — eight in total, including one where we already know Japan beat Korea by a very non-dominant 8-6 tally. Keep an eye on Nicaragua-Netherlands, where the Oranje are gonna have to do something to avoid visions of an early exit.
