By Ian Curtis.
Great Britain clinches spot in next World Baseball Classic
From Watford to the Olympics, Great Britain performance director Gary Anderson has seen just about everything there is to see in the world of British sports. But, he said, few things compare to seeing Team GB play in — and clinch their spot in the next edition of — the World Baseball Classic.
“This tournament is fantastic,” Anderson said. “It’s on a par for me for the UEFA Championships, the World Cup in football, it’s on the par with that. In terms of how this group is, fantastic. These guys, professional players. They apply themselves. They’re so compliant. They do as they’re told. It’s brilliant working with them. I have more trouble with [Great Britain manager] Brad [Marcelino] and his staff than I do the players!”
Automatically qualifying for the next edition of the WBC is crucial for the momentum of the program — both on the field and financially.
“This game today was absolutely huge for our program,” Anderson said. “It means that I don’t have to go begging to our government organization anymore, that they see that we’ve repeated the feat. And to repeat what we achieved last time, it was a huge achievement. Brad and I had a conversation about how other teams are taking us that much more seriously now. So that one win was a huge achievement this time around. … But what this means now for our Olympic program, that we can push ahead with confidence and continue that trajectory. We’ve got to be the best in Europe. That’s our aim now for the Olympic Games.”
Team Great Britain responded quickly to going down 1-0 in the fifth inning, immediately taking advantage of Brazil’s pivot to reliever Tiago da Silva as leadoff man Ian Lewis Jr. launched a solo shot 382 feet into right field to tie things up.
The Brits were not done, though, as Nate Eaton and Harry Ford each tallied singles, with Ford’s RBI hit growing the gap to 2-1 and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Eaton and put the Brits up 3-1.
Lewis also drove in another run in the sixth inning, after Ivan Johnson reached first on a fielding error and made his way around the basepath thanks to a couple of groundouts.
In the seventh, Matt Koperniak — who notched his first hit of the WBC earlier in the game — drove in another two runs with a single to center to widen the gap to 6-1.
Chisholm put the cherry on top by making things 8-1 in the eighth inning with a two-run RBI single.
For Ford, the opportunity to play in — and win a game in — his second WBC was something special.
“This World Baseball Classic was really amazing,” Ford said. “We made so many strides from last time to this time. We added so many key players and coaches, and everyone was working together.”
With the luxury of not having to go through the qualification process for the next WBC, Team GB settles in for several years of recruiting, maintaining and growing the game, starting with the Premier12 Qualifiers.
Brazil’s bullpen sends nation back to drawing board
After four innings of 0-0 deadlock against Great Britain, Brazil struck first with a double to the left field wall that just stayed fair by Gabriel do Carmo after Gabriel Maciel reached base after being hit by a pitch by Gary Gill Hill.
Unfortunately for the Brazilians, that was one of the few bits of success they could muster. Team Brazil was outhit 8-1, and its bullpen woes continued.
After starter Enzo Sawayama — making his second start in this WBC — pitched a stellar four innings, giving up just two hits, Brazil’s relievers could not keep up the momentum.
All four Brazilian pitchers to enter the game after Sawayama’s exit gave up at least one run, and the quartet combined to issue eight walks.
Even Joseph Contreras, the 17-year-old wonder kid and son of José Contreras, who forced Aaron Judge to ground into a double play earlier in the tournament gave up a pair of hits and a pair of runs in 1.1 innings of work.
With the Brazilians forced to rebuild as they attempt to qualify for the next WBC, Brazil manager Daniel Yuichi Matsumoto said that he hopes that Team Brazil can develop the talent it has and prepare itself for the level of play they faced in this WBC.
“But I just hope that Brazil, in general, the level of our players grows up and improves, because even if we qualify, once we get here, the level of play, the baseball here is so much higher than what we are used to,” Matsumoto said. “So we don’t know exactly what’s going to be next for the Brazilian Federation, as in planning. But I just wish them the best. And I’m hoping that Brazilian baseball gets better from this point on.”
USA rides Skenes, homers from Judge and Anthony to massive rivalry win
Despite hosting Pool B games on home soil, Team USA faced a hostile crowd, with tens of thousands of proud Mexican fans — of a sellout crowd of 41,628 — booing the Americans as they were introduced.
Then, the Americans did the absolute best thing they could do to retain momentum and take the crowd out of things: Rely on Paul Skenes to pitch four scoreless innings, get out to a 5-0 lead early thanks to home runs from Aaron Judge and Roman Anthony, and take the Mexican crowd out of things.
Skenes looked like the star he has been since his time at LSU, holding Mexico to just a single hit in four innings on the mound. Of course, in classic Skenes style, he was nonchalant about it.
“It was awesome,” Skenes said. “Great atmosphere. Nice to feel like I’m doing something rather than just taking up a hotel room and eating all the free meals. Good to go out there and do my job.”
That five-run, two-homer third inning was all the Americans were able to muster, but taking the momentum away from Mexico and the Daikin Park crowd proved to be enough for them to secure the USA’s first WBC win over Mexico in 20 years.
“It was an unbelievable environment,” Anthony said. “I think, for me at least, it’s the loudest game I’ve been a part of. Just amazing to get baseball like that this early in the year. And always great when you win. So the vibes are great.”
Next, Team USA looks toward its matchup against Italy as it sits in the driver’s seat toward a first-place finish in Pool B.
Mexico falls just short, but hopes to face USA again
If just one swing goes differently, we would all be talking about Mexico pulling off a historic rivalry win.
Mexico had all the pieces to pull off an upset. They held the USA scoreless in seven innings. They had the tying run at the plate late in the game. They had the crowd’s momentum on their side after Jarren Duran’s sixth-inning homer to left center, and they had it again when Duran went yard again in the eighth inning.
“I have to say that I was very inspired, the way that the team ended or finished the game, knowing that they were facing one of the best pitchers in the world,” Mexico manager Benji Gil said. “It was a tremendous lineup, and no one gave up. And everyone kept fighting. And we were just down a swing. That was the only difference from tying the game.”
It is a game Gil desperately wants back. He says if Mexico faces the USA again in the tournament, it will not go the same way.
“I hope we play the U.S. again,” Gil said. “That would be awesome. I would be ecstatic to face them again. For one, it’s probably the championship. There’s the championship in Miami. In fact, you know what I want to face them more than I want anything else in the world, how is that? … I desire that more than anything in the world, face them again in Miami. I think that we’ll end up 1-1 against the U.S. this tournament. And Mexico won’t lose again until three years from now.”
Of course, to do that, the Mexicans will have to get past Team Italy in the final game of the group stage for a chance to advance out of Pool B and into the quarterfinals.