Miami (AFP) – The United States struggled to another major sporting victory over border rival Canada on Friday to reach the World Baseball Classic semi-finals, where the Americans will face the unbeaten Dominican Republic. Alex Bregman hit a two-run single and David Bednar thwarted a seventh-inning threat as the US team of Major League Baseball stars edged Canada 5-3 in Houston, following victories by the USA men’s and women’s ice hockey teams over Canada in last month’s Winter Olympic finals.
“I don’t think this time in Houston has been all that pretty, but I think we know what we have in this clubhouse,” US outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “The thing that’s most important is while it’s not always the easiest or the cleanest, we’re still getting the job done, some way, somehow. We’re looking to really wake up one of these days soon.”
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In Friday’s other quarter-final at Miami, Austin Wells smashed the game-winning home run and the Dominicans crushed South Korea 10-0 in a game ended early on a blowout rule — when a team leads by 10 runs after seven innings. Wells blasted the only pitch he saw from South Korea’s So Hyeong-jun over the right-field wall for a three-run homer with two outs in the seventh to give the Dominicans the victory.
The Dominicans, who boast the Classic’s most powerful scoring attack, will meet the Americans on Sunday in Miami for a berth in Tuesday’s championship game. Loud Dominican supporters are likely to cheer against the US club. “I expect to be the away team for sure,” Crow-Armstrong said. “But that’s what we’re looking forward to maybe. We want to feel the electricity and the energy in the crowd.”
Jack Hughes, who scored the US gold-medal goal in overtime of the men’s Olympic hockey final, sent an inspirational video message to the USA baseball team and they responded well early. Sluggers Bryce Harper, Bregman, and Cal Raleigh were back in the American lineup after missing Tuesday’s pool-play loss to Italy and helped quickly put the USA ahead.
The Americans opened the scoring in the first inning when Bobby Witt Jr. walked, took third on Aaron Judge’s double, and scored on Kyle Schwarber’s ground out. It became 3-0 in the third when Harper reached on a fielder’s choice, Judge walked, Schwarber singled, and Bregman singled in two runs. In the sixth, Roman Anthony singled, advanced on a Raleigh walk, and scored on a Brice Turang single. Crow-Armstrong singled to drive in Raleigh for a 5-0 USA lead.
Canada responded in the sixth when Owen Caissie walked, advanced on a ground out, and scored on Tyler Black’s single. Bo Naylor then blasted a two-run homer to right-centerfield that pulled the Canadians within 5-3. In the seventh, Canada put the tying runs in scoring position when Edouard Julien and Otto Lopez each singled and advanced on a passed ball by catcher Raleigh with no outs.
Bednar, however, answered the challenge by inducing Naylor to pop out and striking out Tyler O’Neill and Caissie to end the threat. Bednar said he was thinking: “Just find a way, just bear down and get it done. The crowd really got into it toward the end. It was absolutely electric. Those were big outs. Got myself into a little bit of a jam but I just found a way out.”
The Americans retired Canada 1-2-3 in the eighth and relief pitcher Mason Miller struck out all three Canadian batters in the ninth to complete the victory. Dominican MLB sluggers and pitchers surged ahead early against a squad of young talent from the South Korean league. The Dominicans grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second inning, added four more runs in the third, setting the stage for Wells’s game-winner.
Saturday’s quarter-final games find unbeaten Italy facing Puerto Rico at Houston and Venezuela playing undefeated Japan in Miami. Those winners will meet in Monday’s semi-final at Miami, where the championship game is scheduled for Tuesday night.
© 2024 AFP
