Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston.
The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10.
It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning.
Photo: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
A first-inning RBI groundout plated Bobby Witt Jr and the US added two more in the third on an infield single by Alex Bregman compounded by a throwing error by Canadian third baseman Abraham Toro to make it 3-0.
Turang and Crow-Armstrong’s back-to-back run-scoring singles from the bottom two spots of the lineup pushed that advantage to five runs, providing insurance that quickly became quite valuable.
Following a three-run sixth inning highlighted by Bo Naylor’s two-run homer, Canada put the tying run in scoring position with no outs the very next inning on a pair of infield singles followed by a passed ball. David Bednar retired the next three batters, two on strikeouts, to escape unscathed.
That proved to be the last real threat as Garrett Whitlock and Mason Miller shut down Canada in order over the final two innings to never again allow the tying run to reach the plate. Miller slammed the door by striking out the side in the ninth for the save.
Logan Webb struck out five over 4-2/3 scoreless innings for the US. He allowed four hits and a walk but stranded four runners. In two WBC starts, he has thrown 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits with 11 strikeouts to one walk.
Brad Keller and Gabe Speier allowed three runs over a combined 1-1/3 innings in immediate relief of Webb.
After Canadian starter Michael Soroka allowed three runs (two earned) over 2-2/3 innings, Micah Ashman stabilized things with 2-1/3 scoreless, one-hit innings.
The US managed four hits over the final 6-2/3 innings, with Aaron Judge’s first-inning double going down as the team’s only extra-base hit.
Canada, which got two hits apiece from Naylor and leadoff hitter Otto Lopez, was 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, stranding seven runners.
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
RSS