I didn’t think that I would see a better game than Game 7. I still haven’t, but it was still a fantastic baseball game. Two stacked teams chock full of All Stars and top MVP vote getters paired off against each other. Paul Skenes, Aaron Judge, and Team USA were to face off against arguably the greatest offense put together in the history of the WBC, Vlad Guerrero Jr, Juan Soto and the Dominican Republic.
This game had it all. Great pitching. Elite defense. Clutch hitting.
Skenes retired the side in order in the first, thanks to a great defensive gem by 2B Brice Turang on a Juan Soto ground ball headed to RF.
Skenes got the first two batters in the 2nd before Junior Caminero hit an 0-2 pitch for a HR. No Bums, he is not getting traded for at least 4 years.
USA was in business in the 3rd with a one-out single by Bobby Witt Jr., and a double by Bryce Harper putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber coming up. DR’s starting pitcher, Luis Severino, dialed it up a notch, and struck out both USA batters out to end the threat.
USA got their 2nd defensive gem in the bottom of the 3rd. With one out, Geraldo Perdomo was HBP. Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded into a force out. With two outs, Ketel Marte singled to RF, and Judge fired a missile on a line to Henderson at 3B to tag out Tatis Jr. for out #3, and Juan Soto coming up.
But it was what two batters did in the 4th. Two players who were not regulars and did not get the hype, both hit solo HR’s. Gunnar Henderson hit a HR off Severino, and with 2 outs, 22 year old Roman Anthony put USA up 2-1 with a solo HR off Gregory Soto.
DR loaded the bases off Skenes in the 4th, but could not tie the score.
In the 5th, two DR batters reached with one out. USA Manager, Mark De Rosa came out to get Skenes and brought in Tyler Rogers who just joined the team. He got Juan Soto to hit into an inning double play.
15 USA batters struck out. They did not get a hit after Kyle Schwarber in the 5th. Their last base runner was Schwarber who walked in the 7th.
Team USA got some outstanding relief from Griffin Jax and Garrett Whitlock. In between, David Bednar walked a tight rope AGAIN with allowing runners to reach 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. He struck out Tatis Jr, and Marte to end the threat.
In the 9th, Mason Miller was called on to close it out, and it looked like he was going to come easy after dominating Caminero with a K. He then walked Julio Rodríguez. Rodriguez moved to 2nd on a WP and to 3rd on a ground out. Geraldo Perdomo worked the count to 3-2 and then seemingly got Ball 4, only for the umpire to call it a strike.
It was clearly a ball, and it was the second pitch in the same location that was called a strike. Juan Soto struck out on a Whitlock pitch in the 8th in the same location. Maybe we Dodgers fans can give credit to Will Smith for great framing.
Maybe it ended on a controversial call, but it still was a great win for Team USA. Paul Skenes did not have an overpowering game. Mason Miller did not dominate as he has throughout the tournament. Judge struck out twice, but had a great throw. Smith struck out twice, but called a magnificent game against an offensive juggernaut.
Smith is the last Dodger to still be playing in the WBC. Hyeseong Kim got into one of the split squad games on Sunday and went 1-4 with a SB. Shohei, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Edwin Díaz are all due back with the Dodgers and should get extended playing time the next two weeks.
In their quarterfinal game, Yama pitched 4.0 innings and threw 69 pitches. He is on pace to pitch LAD opener vs Arizona in March 26. Ohtani is ready for the season to start. He went 6-13 with 3 HRS, 7 RBI, 5 runs, and an OPS of 1.842.
Diaz walked one batter and struck out two over a scoreless inning for Team Puerto Rico in an elimination loss to Team Italy in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Overall, he pitched three scoreless frames and posted a 7:1 K:BB.
It was a great Semi Final win, but I am ready for March 26, and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Exciting game and a little nerve wracking. Dionysus, your prediction was way off, time for you to retire from predictions. Here’s mine, US has a rematch against Team Italia in the final.
DR wuz robbed!!!