HOUSTON (AP) — The Americans are heading into the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic after a “varying level of focus” helped the All-Star team rebound from a shocking loss.
The United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night to advance to Sunday’s semifinals against the Dominican Republic. The big win came after an 8-6 loss to Italy in pool play, leaving them in need of help to advance to Friday’s match.
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“Guys are really locked in,” Yankees star Aaron Judge said. “We saw different levels of focus in the first few days of practice and even today before the game. It felt like the kids were locked in and ready to go.”
The loss to Italy prompted criticism of the team, especially head coach Marco De Rosa, who prematurely said in a television interview on the morning of the loss: “We’re already in the quarter-finals.”
Judge said he knew a lot of people had negative things to say about them after the match against Italy, but they didn’t pay attention.
“There’s a lot of noise about this,” he said. “I think it means a lot to the players in this room, our head coach, everybody, that no matter what people think about us and what’s going on, we still have work to do on the field.”
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First baseman Bryce Harper echoed Judge’s sentiment that they’re not worried about what outsiders think of the team.
“People are going to have their own opinions about us,” he said. “I don’t think any of them are going to be sitting at our table or at Thanksgiving dinner, so it doesn’t matter what anybody says, which has always been my call for things like this.”
The U.S. finally punched its ticket to the quarterfinals when Italy defeated Mexico to win Group B and send the U.S. into second place.
Starter Logan Webb, who threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings Friday night, said the team’s path to the semifinals wasn’t ideal, but he was proud of the team for getting the job done.
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“It feels like a second chance… I feel like it’s a new energy today,” he said.
Third baseman Alex Bregman appreciated the professionalism in the clubhouse as the team dealt with adversity in the loss to Italy.
“One of the biggest things you see with all these great players is everyone is in the moment, they’re not worried about the future or the past,” he said. “They’re worried about that play, that moment, that pitch, the next pitch. The response today was really, really good.”
Now, the challenge gets tougher as the U.S. faces the Dominican Republic, which advanced to the semifinals on Friday with a 10-0 victory over South Korea in seven sets.
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Team USA will send defending NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes to the mound on Sunday to compete against an All-Star lineup.
“I hope this goes down as one of the best games ever,” DeRosa said.
Judge is excited that the team is heading to Miami and can’t wait for America’s arrival.
“The kids are excited, that’s for sure,” he said. “Definitely getting a taste of the playoff atmosphere in March, definitely a little bit of excitement.”
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Associated Press MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb