The bars might be full of St. Patrick’s Day revelers dressed in green today but there should at least be a corner of baseball fans ready to see the US take on Venezuela in the finals of the WBC tonight.
Venezuela earned a trip to the finals in a hard-fought battle against Team Italy yesterday that saw Venezuela emerge victorious, 4-2. For Team Italy, who punched above their weight class all tournament long, the clock finally struck midnight against a well-balanced Venezuelan team. Italy got on the board
first against Venezuelan starter Keider Montero, who gave up a single three straight walks in the second, forcing in a run. Team Venezuela then brought in one-time Mariners prospect Ricardo Sánchez, who let one of those inherited runners score on a force out to put Italy up 2-0, but otherwise cleaned up the mess.
Venezuela got their first run in the fourth, on a solo homer from former Mariner Eugenio Suárez off Aaron Nola, a sight that’s familiar to many Mariners fans:
Team Italy had a chance to extend their lead in the sixth against Royals reliever Angel Zerpa, after Team Venezuela made the head-scratching decision to intentionally walk J.J. D’Orazio to get to Dante Nori, the hero from Game 1 of Italy’s WBC. Nori singled to load the bases, but Zerpa was able to strike out Sam Antonacci looking to end the threat. It’s tough because Antonacci is a shortstop and Team Italy was already down Miles Mastrobuoni, who could play short in a pinch, but it still sucks that Dominic Canzone didn’t get a chance to hit here, or at all in this game.
With that momentum, Team Venezuela went on to add to their lead against Michael Lorenzen, who was so dominant in Team Italy’s win over Team USA, but struggled in a later-innings bulk role this time. He opened the seventh by walking Gleyber Torres, immediately pinch-run for by Andrés Giménez, who moved to third on a Jackson Chourio single. Ronald Acuña Jr. then knocked in the tying run with a ground-ball single, and Maikel Garcia – who also had a defensive gem earlier in the game – singled in the go-ahead run. Luis Arraez continued the death by paper cuts with a single of his own to make it 4-2. Eduard Bazardo, marking the lone Mariner in the contest, tossed a shutdown 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh, and neither team would score again, leading Venezuela to its first ever WBC Finals appearance.
Tonight’s contest:
It’ll be Venezuela against the US tonight for the glory of the WBC title at loanDepot Park in Miami. Game time is 5 PM PT and as always, use this as the game thread if you’re watching the game and wanting to talk about it. Eduardo Rodríguez will get the start for Team Venezuela, and Nolan McLean will start for Team USA [smash cut to Tarik Skubal chewing glass somewhere]. No word yet on if Cal Raleigh will play for Team USA but Will Smith played the last game and the two have been alternating. Gabe Speier should be available to pitch if necessary. Unfortunately, it’s likely Bazardo will be down for Team Venezuela after pitching yesterday, but he did only need nine pitches (seven strikes!) to get through his inning, so maybe there’s still a possibility.
Game time: 5 PM PT
TV: FOX
Radio: MLB Audio, Sirius XM
