Back-to-back RBI singles from Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong were key factors in the United States’ 5-3 victory over Canada in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic in Houston on Friday.
The United States will face the Dominican Republic, which defeated South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in the quarterfinals, in the semifinals on Sunday in Miami to clinch a spot in Tuesday’s tournament. The Dominican team won all five games in this WBC with a total score of 51-10.
Team USA’s Aaron Judge celebrates a 5-3 victory over Team Canada.
The American team gradually built a 5-0 lead in the sixth inning and seemed about to win easily.
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An RBI grounder in the first inning yielded Bobby Witt Jr., and the Americans added two more runs in the third on Alex Bregman’s infield single and a throwing error by Canadian third baseman Abraham Toro to make it 3-0.
Turang and Crowe-Armstrong scored back-to-back singles in the bottom two spots of the lineup to extend the advantage to five points, providing insurance that quickly became very valuable.
After a three-run sixth inning highlighted by Beau Naylor’s two-run homer, Canada put the tying run in scoring position on a pair of infield singles and a passed ball with no outs in the next inning. David Bednar retired the next three batters, striking out two of them, and escaped unscathed.
That proved to be the last real threat, as Garrett Whitlock and Mason Miller kept the Canadiens from letting the tying run reach the plate in the final two innings. Miller struck out in the ninth inning and earned the save.
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Logan Webb struck out five in 4 2/3 scoreless innings for the Americans, allowing four hits and walking four but leaving four runners stranded. In two WBC starts, he pitched 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits, striking out 11 and walking one.
Brad Keller and Gabe Speier immediately relieved the pressure on Weber by allowing three runs in a combined 1 1/3 innings.
After Canadian starter Michael Soroka allowed three runs (two earned) in 2 2/3 innings, Micah Ashman stabilized the situation with 2 1/3 scoreless innings and one hit.
The Americans allowed four hits in the final 6 2/3 innings, with Aaron Judge’s double in the first inning being the team’s only extra-base hit.
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The Canadians, who had two hits each from Naylor and leadoff hitter Otto Lopez, went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News: U.S. beats Canada to face Dominican Republic in WBC semifinals
