The WBC got wild yesterday and earlier today with eight games. I’ll try to get you as caught up as I can. There were some good performances from Cubs players as well.
Pool A (San Juan)
Right fielder Yoelkis Guilbert and third baseman Yoán Moncada both homered as Cuba slipped past Panama, 3-1.
Guardians pitcher Logan Allen, whose mother is Panamanian, started for Panama. Guilbert, who plays in the Cuban League and winter ball in Mexico, hit a solo home run off him with two outs in the second
inning. In the third, Moncada connected for a home run off of Allen with a man on to make it 3-0 Cuba.
Meanwhile, Panama couldn’t do much off of six Cuban pitchers. They managed to get one run when former Braves infielder Johan Camargo singled home Cardinals minor leaguer Leonardo Bernel. But that was all the offense they could manage.
Catcher Miguel Amaya started for Panama and went 0 for 3 before he was pulled for a pinch-hitter. Christian Bethancourt, who is back with the Cubs these days, was 0 for 1.
Once starter José Quintana left the game, Puerto Rico had no problem putting away Colombia, 5-0.
Quintana was magnificent for Colombia. He allowed only one baserunner over three innings, a leadoff walk in the third. But thanks to a 4-6-3 double play, Quintana faced the minimum over his three innings.
But former Mets and Angels minor leaguer Adrián Almeida came on to pitch the fourth and he retired Puerto Rico in order in that inning. But then he came out for the fifth and got rocked for five runs. After A’s teammates Carlos Cortes and Darell Hernaiz both singled to start the inning, an error by Colombian third baseman Gio Urshela allowed one run to score and opened up the five-run inning. Eddie Rosario and Martin Maldonado had RBI singles, Willi Castro hit an RBI double and Heliot Ramos had a sacrifice fly.
Colombia managed just five singles, three of them by outfielder Harold Ramírez who was 3 for 4.
Pool B (Houston)
Team Mexico scored three runs in the eighth inning and four in the top of the ninth to turn a tight contest into an 8-2 blowout.
Javier Assad got the start for Mexico and he shut down the British batters for 3.2 scoreless innings. Assad allowed two hits. He walked one and struck out two.
Mexico struck first in the top of the second with a solo home run by Braves infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. The blast came off of Great Britain starter and Red Sox minor leaguer Jack Anderson.
The home run by Alvarez is more exciting in Spanish [VIDEO]
But Great Britain struck back and tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run by Nationals catcher Harry Ford. [VIDEO]
Then Mexico broke things open in the top of the eighth when Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda smashed a three-run home run off of Giants reliever Tristan Beck. [VIDEO]
Mexico then pushed across four more runs in the top of the ninth. Great Britain got a consolation run in the bottom of the inning on a double by Trayce Thompson.
Cubs minor leaguer BJ Murray Jr. was 1 for 3 with a walk for Great Britain.
The US had trouble putting away the pesky Brazilian team, who were paced by two home runs by Angels minor leaguer Lucas Ramirez.
Team USA was up 2-0 after three batters when team captain Aaron Judge homered on a 79 mile per hour sweeper [VIDEO] by former Reds farmhand Bo Takahashi.
Brazil struck back with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning by Lucas Ramirez [VIDEO], the 20 year-old son of former slugger Manny Ramirez.
The US tacked on another run in the third inning when Cal Raleigh walked with the bases loaded.
It looked like the rout was on when the US scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for one run, then Brice Turang emptied the bases with this three-run double [VIDEO]
But Michael Wacha let the Brazilians back in the game when he allowed three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Former Astros minor leaguer Victo Masai hit a two-run home run. [VIDEO] which was the key hit of the inning.
Team USA got a run back in the top of the eighth with a Roman Anthony RBI single. But Brazil got that run back with Lucas Ramirez’s second home run of the game [VIDEO].
But Brazil ran out of pitchers who could throw a strike and Team USA scored seven runs on three singles and five walks in the top of the ninth.
Brazil’s pitching staff clearly struggled to find the plate as they walked 17 (!!) US batters and hit two of them.
Alex Bregman was 0 for 1 with four walks and one hit by pitch. He scored twice and had one RBI.
Pete Crow-Armstrong took over center field after Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch (purely precautionary, we were told) and was 0 for 2 with a bases-loaded walk in the ninth.
Pool C (Tokyo)
Chinese Taipei 14 Czechia 0 (7 innings)
Jan Novák, who had two years in rookie ball with the Orioles over a decade ago, got the start against Chinese Taipei and got rocked for two runs in the first and four in the second.
Stuart Fairchild, who signed a minor league deal with the Guardians this past winter, hit a grand slam off Novák in the second inning [VIDEO]
After Fairchild’s home run, the game was pretty much over as Czechia could only manage four hits. A’s minor leaguer Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang, Diamondbacks minor leaguer Yu-Min Lin and former Diamondbacks farmhand Kai-Wei Lin combined on the shutout, which ended after seven innings because of the mercy rule.
Korea jumped out to an early lead over the favored hosts, but in the end Japan had too much talent and prevailed 8-6.
Korea jumped all over Samurai Japan starter Yusei Kikuchi, scoring three runs in the top of the first. Jung Ho Lee hit an RBI single, followed by a two-run double by LG Twins first baseman Bo Gyeong Moon [VIDEO].
As you can see in that highlight, Moon’s double got past center fielder Seiya Suzuki. But Suzuki got those two runs back with a 385-foot two-run home run in the bottom of the inning. [VIDEO]
Shohei Ohtani (who else?) brought Japan level with a solo home run in the third. But Japan wasn’t done. After Softbank outfielder Kensuke Kondoh struck out, Suzuki and Masataka Yoshida went back-to-back to give Japan a 5-3 lead.
Here are all three Japanese home runs in the third [VIDEO].
But Korea struck back with a 410-foot two-run home run in the top of the fourth by Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim. [VIDEO]
But Japan proved to be too much for Korea and scored three more times in the seventh. Suzuki walked with the bases loaded and then Yoshida hit a two-run single.
Korea tried to rally off of Softbank Hawks reliever Yuki Matsumoto in the top of the eighth. Jung Hoo Lee led off the inning with a double and would come around to score on a two-out single by the NC Dino’s Ju Won Kim. Matsumoto then loaded the bases, but Hyeseong Kim struck out with the go-ahead run on first to end th threat.
Pool D (Miami):
Venezuela scored four runs in the fifth inning and had little trouble in their first game against the Netherlands.
Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the bottom of the first inning with a double off of Netherlands starter Antwone Kelly, who pitched for the Pirates Double-A affiliate in Altoona last year. Acuña scored two batters later on a single by Luis Arraez.
The Netherlands tied the game up in the top of the second with a double by Diamondbacks minor leaguer Druw Jones off of Venezuela starter Ranger Suárez. [VIDEO]
Druw’s Hall-of-Fame father is the Netherlands manager.
Marlins outfielder Javier Sanoja put Venezuela back on top with a solo home run on a pitch up in his eyes [VIDEO] in the bottom of the second.
Venezuela put this game out of reach with a four-run fifth inning. The rally was highlighted by a two-run single by Willson Contreras.
Daniel Palencia retired the Netherlands side in order in the ninth with pure gasolina [VIDEO], striking out two on pitches of 100 and 101 miles per hour.
Dominican Republic 12 Nicaragua 3
Nicaragua gave the powerhouse Dominicans an early scare, but eventually won going away thanks to home runs by Junior Caminero, Julio Rodríguez and Oneil Cruz.
Dominican starter Christopher Sánchez struggled, giving up one run in the top of the first inning and two in the second. Blue Jays minor league outfielder Ismael Munguia had one RBI single of Sánchez in the first. Brewers Triple-A shortstop Freddy Zamora had an RBI double in the second and Chase Dawson of the indy ball Schaumburg Boomers had an RBI single. [VIDEO]
However, the Dominicans scored twice in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by Ketel Marte and an RBI groundout by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. So it was 3-2 Nicaragua until the bottom of the third inning, when Rodríguez singled home Juan Soto.
That tie lasted until the bottom of the sixth when Caminero went deep to center field with a man on. [VIDEO]
Julio Rodríguez made it 6-3 with a solo home run in the seventh. Then the Dominicans exploded for six runs in the bottom of the eighth, highlighted by this monster 450-foot three-run home run by Oneil Cruz. [VIDEO]
