World Baseball Classic Day 6: Team USA hits a speed bump vs. Mexico

If baseball fans thought Team USA, with its lineup of All-Star players, would roll through the 2023 World Baseball Classic, they got a dose of reality Sunday.

World Baseball Classic: Mexico 11, United States 5

Team Mexico gobsmacked the USA team 11-5 in Group C play in Phoenix before a capacity and largely pro-Mexico crowd at Chase Field. While the outcome does not undermine the Team USA effort to defend the championship it won in 2017, it does intensify the pressure to win its next two group games, against Canada on Monday and against Colombia on Wednesday.

A loss in either of those two games and the hopes of team USA would be severely compromised.

Joey Meneses, who plays for the Washington Nationals but is a native of Mexico, was basically a one-man wrecking ball against the USA’s hopes Sunday.

In the first inning, Team USA pitcher Nick Martinez got a fastball up to Meneses with Randy Arozarena on base. Meneses put it in the first row of the left field seats.

Then in the fourth, Meneses batted against Royals pitcher Brady Singer with Alex Verdugo and Arozarena on base. This fastball, which sailed up and in to Meneses, sailed up and out to the 10th row of those same left field seats, boosting Mexico’s lead to 7-1.

Team USA was never really in the game from that point on.

Meneses finished with three hits, three runs scored and those five RBI. Arozarena had three hits,  three runs scored and two RBI. Mexico DH Rowdy Tellez also had three hits, limiting himself to two RBI.

A succession of eight Team USA pitchers allowed 15 hits to the Mexicans. Against that, the American sluggers looked like junior varsity guys scrimmaging the varsity. Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Pete Alonso were a combined 2-for-18 with zero runs batted in.

Angels starter Patrick Sandoval and Cubs prospect Javier Assad were largely responsible for keeping the USA offense in check. They pitched a combined six innings, allowing just one run on three hits.

White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson kept the evening from being even more embarrassing.  Anderson’s second-inning single drove in Kyle Tucker with the first USA run, and his eighth-inning double sent home Goldschmidt and Bobby Witt, although that hit only closed the USA within the final 11-5 margin.

World Baseball Classic: Australia 8, Czech Republic 3

In Tokyo, Australia wrapped up advancement to the quarterfinals by eliminating the Czechs in what amounted to a play-in game.

Australia finished 3-1 in Group B, one game behind the powerhouse Japanese hosts. Had the Aussies lost, the identity of the group runner-up would have been thrown to the WBC’s intricate tie-breaking system, with the Czechs and Korea also in play.

That wasn’t necessary because Australia broke open a 1-1 tie with seven runs in the game’s final three innings. It marks the first time in WBC history that Australia survived the Group stage play.

Monday’s game was closer than the final score suggests. Australia broke on top when the game’s second batter, Alex Hall, homered, but the Czechs tied it on Eric Sogard’s third inning run-producing hit, and that’s where things stood into the seventh.

That’s when Marek Minarik, the second Czech pitcher and a former U.S. farm system product, could not contain the Australia offense. A single and walk set the stage for Logan Wade, whose double high off the right field wall brought both runners home.

Hall added two more runs with a double of his own in the eighth. In the ninth, reliever Jon Kennedy squelched a final Czech threat by inducing a game-ending double play off the bat of Jakob Kubica.

World Baseball Classic: Canada 18, Great Britain 8

Coming off their defeat at the hands of the U.S., the Brits were no match for a more experienced Canada lineup in a hit-first, ask-questions-later game.

Great Britain actually grabbed a quick 3-0 lead when Chavez Young walked, worked his way around the bases and stole home on the tail end of a double steal that sent Matt Koperniak to second. Koperniak scored on Nick Ward’s base hit, and Ward scored on Darnell Sweeney’s single.

That three-run lead lasted only a bit longer than it took Canada to get to the bat rack. Canada leadoff hitter Edouard Julien hit the first pitch he saw over the fence in right for a home run,  Freddie Freeman walked, and Tyler O’Neill singled. Three hits, two walks and an error later, the Canadians led 5-3.

Great Britain made it 5-4 when Trayce Thompson’s second inning single brought home Chavez Young. But Abraham Toro scored O’Neill, who had walked.

And that’s the way it went, the Canadians consistently trumping Great Britain’s offensive efforts. Great Britain scored once in the third; Canada scored four times. Great Britain scored in the fourth; Canada retaliated with six. That made it 16-8 by the game’s halfway point.

O’Neill had four hits and drove in four runs for Canada. Jacob Robson, a Tigers farmhand, also had four hits and scored four runs in the 17-hit Canada attack.

Toro and Cubs farmhand Owen Caissie each drove in three runs for Canada.

Seven Great Britain pitchers complicated their own efforts by issuing 16 free passes atop the 17-hit Canada attack. That’s 33 baserunners of 85 batters faced, a nifty .388 team on base percentage for Canada.

World Baseball Classic: Venezuela 9, Puerto Rico 6

With this victory, the Venezuelans grabbed a commanding advantage in Group D. Not only are they 2-0, but they have defeated both of their two most respected challengers, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Venezuela now can clinch advancement out of the group with one victory in their final two games. That could happen as early as Tuesday when they play winless Nicaragua in Miami.

The Venezuelans hit Puerto Rico with an early haymaker, scoring seven times before Puerto Rico got a second chance at hitting.

A game-opening error by Javier Baez on Jose Altuve’s grounder set the stage for Venezuela’s four-run first. Once the door was opened, Ronald Acuna walked, Salvador Perez singled Altuve home, and Anthony Santander homered everybody else across.

Altuve’s double opened the three-run second, which ended for Puerto Rico starter Jose Berrios one batter later when Luis Arraez singled. This time, it was Perez with the three-run home run.

Puerto Rico made a furtive run at getting back in the game with a four-run fifth aided and abetted by two walks issued by Andres Machado, but those four runs only brought Puerto Rico within 9-5.

Perez’ double and home  run were two of his four hits, and he drove in five runs, scoring three times. It was part of a 12-hit Venezuela attack against Berrios and seven relievers.

World Baseball Classic: Korea 22, China 2

In a game played with nothing but pride at stake, Korea took out its tournament frustrations on the outmanned Chinese in Tokyo. The game was halted after five innings by the mercy rule.

The Koreans, whose tournament hopes were undermined by early losses to Japan and Australia, took out all their frustrations on a half-dozen China pitchers, none of whom escaped unscathed. In fact, Korea scored at least twice in each of the abbreviated game’s five innings, running up 20 hits overall and supplementing that with 10 bases on balls.

The offensive stars for Korea were almost too numerous to mention. Let’s begin with outfielder Kenwoo Park, whose three hits included a grand slam that highlighted a six-run fourth. Park had five RBI for the afternoon.

Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim matched Park’s grand slam with one of his own in the fifth. Hae-Min Park, Baekho Kang and Ji Young Lee each enjoyed three-hit games.

While Korea’s batters enjoyed their glorified workout, the pitchers contributed too. Three Korean arms held China to four hits, the only two Chinese runs coming off starter Tae-in Won in the first. Jie Cao got credit for those two runs, sending both across with a bases-loaded single that tied the game at 2-2.

Korea would score the game’s next 20 runs.

Coming up at the World Baseball Classic

Through two days of competition, one team (Venezuela) has emerged as a clear Group front-runner. The Venezuelans are 2-0 in Group D, and need only one more victory (against either Israel or Nicaragua) to advance.

Mexico’s victory over Team USA muddled the Group C situation. Canada and Colombia have both won their only game, while Mexico and the U.S. are both 1-1. Only Great Britain, at 0-2, appears out of contention.

With Groups A and B wrapped up, the focus Monday shifts to the U.S.-based Groups C in Phoenix and D in Miami.

In Phoenix, Team USA will face a borderline must-win contest with Canada, which will be coming off its blowout win over Great Britain. A loss in that game and the U.S. will fall to 1-2. If that happens, the USA would need a victory over Colombia Wednesday plus some help to advance.

Colombia, meanwhile, will play Britain with a chance to go to 2-0 in the bracket.

In Miami, the Venezuelans — having put away Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on successive days ‚ get a spa day Monday while their chief rivals face must-win games of their own against perceived lesser opponents. The Dominicans play Nicaragua in the afternoon game, followed by Puerto Rico against Israel Monday night.

The Group A and B qualifiers begin elimination play Wednesday when Australia faces Cuba in Tokyo. Thursday’s game will send Japan against Italy. Both are elimination contests.