Mexico bests USA 5-2 in WBC start in Phoenix
All those hitters couldn’t do much of anything against Mexico’s string of pitchers and the Cy Young winner fell flat. Now the Americans have to win or they could be headed home after the opening round for the first time at the WBC.
Adrian Gonzalaz hit a two-run homer off U.S. starter R.A. Dickey, seven pitchers kept the Americans’ bats in check and Mexico rebounded from a disappointing opening loss with a 5-2 win over Team USA in Pool D on Friday night.
“They outplayed us in every area of the game and that is what you get,” U.S. third baseman David Wright said. “A pretty convincing win for them.”
Mexico had beaten the Americans before in the WBC, in 2006. But in that win, the Mexicans had already been eliminated and were able to play loose. Coming off a last-inning loss to Italy in its opener this year, Mexico needed to beat the United States or its tournament was essentially over.
The Mexicans pulled it off with a nearly flawless game, getting good pitching, solid defense and some timely hits in front of a boisterous, pro-Mexican crowd of 44,256 at Chase Field.
Gonzalez hit a two-run homer off Dickey in the third inning and finished with three RBIs. Luis Cruz had two RBIs and Eduardo Arredondo had three hits and scored three runs. Yovani Gallardo pitched 3 1-3 effective innings to start Mexico’s domination on the mound and Sergi Romo bounced back from shaky outing against Italy with an overpowering ninth inning.
Mexico will send out right-hander Marco Estrada against Canada on Saturday with a chance to move on to the second round of the WBC for the third straight tournament, depending on how the rest of the pool plays out.
“The last one, we knew we were out and that put us in a position where we had nothing to lose,” Gonzalez said. “This one, we’re still in it and we had to win. We went out and played as close to a perfect game as you can play in baseball
Read more: http://www.voxxi.com/usa-world-baseball-classic-loss-mexico/#ixzz2N6m1xDaH
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