Posted on 03/11/2017 8:13:19 PM PST by TBP
The Dominican Republic got one step closer to punching its ticket to the second round of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday, besting the United States in a clash of two Pool C titans.
With back-to-back home runs from Nelson Cruz and Starling Marte in the eighth inning, the Dominican Republic stormed back from a five-run deficit and improved to 2-0 in the tournament with a 7-5 win in Miami. The game was played before a raucous, sold-out crowd of 37,446, establishing a new record for Marlins Park. The ballpark's previous high was 37,116 on Opening Day in 2014.
The win extends the Dominican Republic's Classic winning streak to 10 consecutive games. The reigning champions are now 16-4 all-time in the tournament and are in prime position to advance to the second round in San Diego.
Despite a stellar performance from Marcus Stroman, the U.S. bats went cold and the bullpen squandered a 5-0 lead as the Dominican team scored seven unanswered runs.
The bullpen blew a magnificent performance by Marcuys Stroman and squandered a 5-0 lead to lose 7-5 to teh Dominicans.
The US needs to beat Canada to have a chance to advance. If that happens and the Dominicans beat Colombia, the USA advances. if the Colombians beat the Dominican and the USA beats Canada, there is a USA-Colombia tiebreaker game for the right to go on to Round 2.
Hopefully, Roark, Robertson, and Miller hve gotten it out of their system.
Thanks, I was in the sixth inning of the game on DVR.
Sorry to blow it for you.
Bullpen implosion starts right about where you were.
Dominican Republic just doesn’t lose games in the WBC. Baseball is a national passion there.
That’s okay. Baseball doesn’t come up often on FR, so I thought I was safe. Nice to see interest in the World Baseball Classic. I have watched every one (all four) so far. I am intrigued by the concept.
It’s round robin in the first two rounds, with the top two from the four first round pools advancing to the second round. It’s single elimination in the final round.
There are pitch limits: 65 in the first round, 80 in the second round, 90 in the third round. (You can go over to finish a batter.)
We need the USA to advance. We’ve never won one, and it’s about time. This is the best American team we’ve fielded, but I think the middle of the bullpen may be a little weaker than I’d like.
DR lineup is murderers’ row from top to bottom. Don’t know about their pitching though.
That Volquez is wearing a 15 pound gold chain, don’t know how he can pitch with that thing on and I hate that he is on the Marlins now.
Its going to be a long season for the Fish, great game tonight though, Stanton and Yelich looked good.
Quite a year at Marlins Park — the World Baseball Classic and the All-Star Game (the third of four consecutive All-Star Games in NL parks.)
Love your screen name, BTW. One of my favorites.
The Marlins needed some pitching after what happened late last season.
Yelich looked good. he’s been one of our best players so far in the tournament.
Yes, this will be a breakout year for Yelich and Stanton looks like hes fully healed from his oblique strain so hopefully he plays a full season.
Replacing Fernandez is impossible, marlins pitching now is weak, maybe Chen will come around, Volquez is inconsistent, Conley, Koehler and Locke are no great shakes either.
At least they got rid of Fernando Rodney, that guy was a nightmare!.
Rodney can’t even wear his hat right.
Yes, the Marlins’ pitching is a little weak. That’s what separates them from the Nationals and Mets.
bot Chen and Volquez could be very good, or they can be terrible. (Neither seems to have a middle setting.)
The Dominicans beat Colombia today, so if the USA wins tonight, they advance. If not, there is a three-way tie among USA, Colombia, and Canada. In that case, the one that has given up the most runs per inning is eliminated and the other two play a tiebreaker game tomorrow.
USA vs. Canada, 7 PM Eastern tonight. Ryan Dempster vs. Danny Duffy.
USA! USA!
Yes, I will be watching, USA should have no problem beating Canada, but anything can happen.
Watched the first couple of innings of Israel versus Cuba last night, should have DVR’d the rest, can’t believe Israel is undefeated in 4 games!
Israel has take n down some real powers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.