Judge, Anthony Continue to Grapple with Pitching Woes as US beats Canada in QF
Before we recap US-Canada, the Unnamed Sports Blog would like to send our condolences to South Korea who had to fly all the way from Tokyo to Miami just to get curb stomped by the Dominican Republic 10-0 in a game that ended in a mercy ruling. It is painful enough that teams have to fly such a long distance on such a short time frame and with little time to practice, but not scoring any runs and the game ending in a mercy ruling is such a cruel way to end your WBC run.
The problems that plague the United States in the WBC continue to show up in the game against Canada in quarterfinal. The United States jumped out to a 5-0 lead early on in the game and Roman Anthony had a hit and was able to score as part of that 5-0 lead. However, the offense could not get going after that and the pitching continues to be a flaw for the United States. Canada would get 3 runs back to make it 5-3. Two of those runs came off of a home run the United States gave up in the bottom of the 6th inning. The United States has now given up 10 home runs in the WBC, the most of any country in this tournament. The pitching problem almost reached a boiling point in the bottom of the 7th inning as at one point Canada had two men in scoring position with nobody out. Thankfully, the United States managed to barely get out of the inning thanks to the pitcher locking in. The pitching managed to calm down for the rest of the game as Garrett Whittlock had a superb 8th inning and the US finished Canada off in the 9th inning to win the game and move on to the semifinals in Miami.
Despite the United States winning the game, red flags continue to plague this team as they now face the Dominican Republic team I mentioned earlier. This team needs to quickly correct itself as the Dominican Republic will not be as merciful to the US’s mistakes as Canada was. I am not confident in the US right now against the Dominican Republic thanks to mistakes that have not been corrected thus far in this tournament. I would love to be wrong by the end of Sunday night.
Churros, anyone?