Friday was Day 5 of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, and so far four teams have advanced to the second round: Cuba, Israel, Japan, and the Netherlands. Here is a recap of Friday’s action before Day 6 begins Saturday.
USA 3, Colombia 2 in 10 innings
Colombia, a heavy underdog, battled valiantly for 10 innings, but ultimately Team USA had too much talent. USA won the battle of the bullpens when Adam Jones ripped a two-out, two-strike walk-off single in the 10th inning. Here’s the video:
Jose Quintana was masterful, holding USA hitless into the sixth inning. Pitch count rules forced him from the game after 5 2/3 innings, and USA rallied to tie the game 2-2 almost immediately. Colombia, which is playing in their first WBC, wasted several run scoring opportunities in the late innings. They put up a heck of a fight.
Here’s more on USA’s win over Colombia.
Puerto Rico 11, Venezuela 0 in 7 innings
Believe it or not, a team that started Felix Hernandez and had Jose Altuve, Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Gonzalez, and Victor Martinez in its lineup got mercy ruled Friday. Puerto Rico’s T.J. Rivera smacked a walk-off two-run home run in the seventh inning. Here’s video of the ultra-rare seventh inning walk-off:
Of course, Puerto Rico has a pretty good lineup themselves. Sign me up for a team with Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Carlos Beltran, Yadier Molina, and Javier Baez any day of the week. In the WBC, if a team is winning by 15 runs after five innings or 10 runs after seven innings, the game is over. Rivera’s home run turned a 9-0 lead into an 11-0 lead, hence the walk-off.
The story of the game, moreso than Puerto Rico’s offense, was starter Seth Lugo. The right-hander, who had a 2.67 ERA in 67 innings as a rookie for the Mets last season, held that high-powered Venezuela lineup to one hit in 5 1/3 innings before hitting the pitch limit. He struck out three. What a performance.
Upcoming schedule
Aside from the Championship Game, the most anticipated game of the WBC will be played Saturday: USA vs. Dominican Republic. That’s going to be fun. Here’s how you can watch the meeting between baseball’s two international superpowers, and here is the rest of the day’s WBC schedule:
- Pool C: Colombia (0-1) vs. Canada (0-1) at 12pm ET on Saturday
- Pool D: Italy (1-0) vs. Venezuela (0-1) at 3pm ET on Saturday
- Pool C: USA (1-0) vs. Dominican Republic (1-0) at 6:30pm ET on Saturday
- Pool D: Puerto Rico (1-0) vs. Mexico (0-1) at 9:30pm ET on Saturday
- Pool E: Israel (3-0 in Pool A, 0-0 in Pool E) vs. Cuba (2-1 in Pool B, 0-0 in Pool E) at 10pm ET on Saturday
- Pool E: Japan (3-0 in Pool B, 0-0 in Pool E) vs. Netherlands (2-1 in Pool A, 0-0 in Pool E) at 7am ET on Sunday
Here is the full WBC schedule. The Championship Game will be played March 22 at Dodger Stadium.