World Baseball Classic Day 9: Mike Trout carries Team USA

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MARCH 15: Infielders Mike Trout #27, Nolan Arenado #28 and Paul Goldschmidt #46 of Team USA celebrate after defeating Team Colombia in the World Baseball Classic Pool C game at Chase Field on March 15, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. Team USA defeated Team Colombia 3-2. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MARCH 15: Infielders Mike Trout #27, Nolan Arenado #28 and Paul Goldschmidt #46 of Team USA celebrate after defeating Team Colombia in the World Baseball Classic Pool C game at Chase Field on March 15, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. Team USA defeated Team Colombia 3-2. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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Team USA is moving on to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic, and it can thank its biggest star, Mike Trout.

Trout, the Angels center fielder who is generally ranked among the world’s best players, looked every bit the part in a vital Group C game Wednesday against Colombia. Trout had three hits and drove in all three of Team USA’s runs in a 3-2 victory.

The result sends the U.S. against Group D champion Venezuela in a quarterfinal matchup that will  be played Saturday night in Miami.

Trout took personal charge of ensuring that result Wednesday in Phoenix.

World Baseball Classic: United States 3, Canada 2

In the top of the third inning of a scoreless game, Trout delivered a two-out base hit that sent Mookie Betts home for a 1-0 U.S. lead.

Then in the fifth, with the U.S. trailing 2-1, Trout delivered again. After Will Smith walked and Betts singled and took second on the throw, Trout got a fat curve and slammed it into left, sending both runners across.

Trout had also tripled in the first, but he was stranded on third when Nolan Arenado grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Between them, Trout and Betts had five of team USA’s seven base hits. The offensive margin generated by Trout proved to be just enough for seven Team USA pitchers, who allowed Colombia six hits.

Three of those six hits came in the bottom of the third, when Colombia produced its only two runs. Facing Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly, Oscar Mercado doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly. Then with two outs, Jorge Alfaro singled and scored on Reynaldo Rodriguez’s double high off the wall in dead center.

The outcome wasn’t assured until closer Ryan Pressly struck out Jordan Diaz to end the game with the potential tying run on base.

Christian Vazquez homering Wednesday. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Christian Vazquez homering Wednesday. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

World Baseball Classic: Puerto Rico 5, Dominican Republic 2

With Venezuela having already wrapped up the Pool D championship, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic met Wednesday night in Miami in an elimination game.

A Christian Vazquez home run ignited a four-run Puerto Rico third inning that ended up deciding the game. Vazquez put a grooved 2-0 Johnny Cueto fastball into the Dominican bullpen.

The Puerto Ricans weren’t through. Vimael Machin followed with a base hit, then Martin Maldonado dropped down a bunt between first and second and beat it out for a single.

When lead-footed catcher Martin Maldonado beats out a bunt single, you know it’s your night … and it was. Bryan Abreu replaced Cueto and Francisco Lindor greeted him with an RBI single, Enrique Hernandez singled Maldonado home, and Lindor scored the fourth run on a groundout.

The star-studded Dominican lineup made a couple of furtive attempts at rallies. Juan Soto homered deep onto the batters eye in center to lead off the bottom of the third, but the Dominican batters went down quietly after that.

In the fifth, after Puerto Rico had expanded its lead to 5-1, they loaded the bases on a hit and two walks, and then scored a run on a Manny Machado double play. Eloy Jimenez doubled to open the sixth, but nothing came of it.

The last 10 Dominican hitters were retired in succession, six of them on strikes. Edwin Diaz fanned Ketel Marte, Jean Segura and Teoscar Hernandez in succession in the bottom of the ninth.

The victory advances Puerto Rico to a second round meeting with Group C champion Mexico. That game will be played Saturday night in Miami, but Puerto Rico could well be without Diaz, who hurt himself in the postgame celebration and his status is unknown.

Randy Arozarena. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
Randy Arozarena. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) /

World Baseball Classic: Mexico 10, Canada 3

In Phoenix, Mexico clinched the top seed in Pool C with a decisive victory over Canada in what amounted to a win-or-go-home game.

Mexico completes Pool C play at 3-1, and having beaten the United States, the only team with a chance to match its record.

Tampa Bay star Randy Arozarena led a Mexico offense that played relentlessly. After being hit by a pitch, he scored the game’s first run in a two-run Mexico top of the first. His second inning double drove in Austin Barnes for Mexico’s third run, and his sixth inning bags-clearing double down the left field line extended Mexico’s margin to 6-2.

That ran Arozarena’s RBI total for the game to five.

Joey Meneses and Rowdy Tellez also had two hits, one of Tellez’s being a home run. Tellez had three RBI.

Canada, which would have advanced with a victory, played without star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had been lifted from Tuesday’s game due to a hamstring strain. The injury was reported not to be serious.

Eight Canada pitchers tried without success to slow Mexico. Those pitchers, however, failed to help themselves, issuing 10 bases on balls atop the 10 Mexico hits. They also hit three opponents, getting Arozarena twice.

Bo Naylor and Edouard Julien provided Canada’s offensive highlights, each with a home run. Julien, a Twins farmhand, batted .538 for the tournament.

Eugenio Suarez. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Eugenio Suarez. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images) /

World Baseball Classic: Venezuela 5, Israel 1

Venezuela, which had already clinched the Pool D championship, completed its perfect performance in Pool D with a convincing victory over Israel Wednesday afternoon.

Mariners slugger Eugenio Suarez was the offensive star for the victors. Suarez singled home two runs in a three-run Venezuela fist, homered in the sixth and added a base hit in the eighth.

Suarez is now batting .600 for the tournament.

Marlins starter Jesus Luzardo pitched a scoreless four innings, allowing four hits and striking out five. He was the first of four Venezuela pitchers who combined to strike out 12 opponents.

Team Israel had to limit itself to moral victories, which there were a couple.

After being shut out on just one hit the previous two games, Israel pushed across a run in the seventh when Jakob Goldfarb’s drive to right-center got home Noah Mendlinger.

Israel’s nine hits exceeded by one their previous total for the entire tournament.

By defeating Nicaragua in their tournament opener, Israel ensured that it would not finish last in its group. Avoiding that ignominy means an automatic bid to the next WBC.

By finishing first in its group, Venezuela advances to the tournament quarterfinals, also in Miami. They will play the U.S. on Friday.

Kazuma Okamoto. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP) (Photo by YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Kazuma Okamoto. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP) (Photo by YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images) /

World Baseball Classic: Japan 9, Italy 3

This elimination game featured a superb illustration of the wisdom of an American dictum: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Team Italy manager Mike Piazza removed his starter, Ryan Castellani, just two innings into a scoreless tie in the team’s quarterfinal game against favored Japan.

Castellani, who pitches for the Oakland A’s, had delivered two innings in which he allowed just one hit, and he had thrown just 39 of his allotted 80 pitches.

But with the top of the Japanese order scheduled to bat again, Piazza lifted Castellani. Perhaps he wanted to avoid giving his opponents a second look at Castellani, or possibly he was constrained by an instruction from the A’s, so in came reliever Joe LaSorsa.

Before you could say, “Hey, it ain’t broke,” Kensuke Kondoh walked, Shohei Ohtani bunted his way on base, Kondoh scored on a groundout, Munetaka Murakami walked, and Kazuma Okamoto planted a high fastball in the left field seats for a three-run home run.

That made the score 4-0 and Samurai Japan was effectively on its way to Miami for a semifinal matchup next Sunday with the winner of a quarterfinal game between Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Next. WBC providing hope for Cardinals fans with outfielder play. dark

It also turned out to be all the slack Japan needed. Italy made up two of those runs in the top of the fifth, Japan piled on three more in the bottom half, and the outcome was settled. Masataka Yoshida piled on with a seventh-inning home run and Italy’s Dominic Fletcher homered late to set the final margin.

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