There was more drama than anyone anticipated this weekend in Miami, but the end result is what everyone expected. The United States will join the Dominican Republic in the second round of the World Baseball Classic after crushing Canada 8-0 at Marlins Park.
Team USA entered the game in control of its destiny thanks to the Dominican Republic’s earlier win against Colombia. A win meant it moved on. A loss meant a lot of chaos decided by tiebreaker rules too complicated to explain.
Fortunately, we don’t have to, because Team USA took care of business.
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Team USA’s offense erupted early, taking advantage of a matchup against Ryan Dempster. The 39-year-old right-hander predictably had little left in the tank pitching on two days rest and coming off three years of retirement. He was pulled six batters into the game after walking three and allowing two hits. Three runs were scored in the frame, with Eric Hosmer’s two-run double being the key blow. More would have surely followed if not for excellent defensive plays by Canada infielders Jonathan Malo and Pete Orr.
Of course, more did follow in the second. Nolan Arenado smacked a three-run home run against Andrew Albers, which removed any doubt surrounding the outcome.
The drama then shifted to whether or not Canada could avoid the mercy rule.
It did, but barely. The United States added two more runs, including a Buster Posey solo homer in the seventh, but couldn’t deliver a knockout blow.
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On the hill, Danny Duffy continued the team’s starting pitching success, tossing four scoreless innings.
Combined line for United States starting pitchers Chris Archer, Marcus Stroman and Danny Duffy: 12.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 14 K. That’ll play.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 13, 2017
The bullpen combined for five scoreless innings led by Tyler Clippard’s two perfect innings.
With the win, Team USA advances to Pool F, which will take place Tuesday through Saturday at Petco Park in San Diego. The Dominican Republic will play Pool D winner Puerto Rico in the opener on Tuesday. Team USA will face the Pool D runner-up on Wednesday night at 9:00pm ET.
A rematch with the Dominican Republic looms on Saturday, but that’s something to worry about later. Sunday was all about surviving and advancing, which Team USA did in convincing fashion.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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