March 19, 2023

WBC Semifinal: United States 14, Cuba 2

Cuba - 100 010 000 -  2 12  0
USA - 212 224 01x - 14 14  1

Well, this was not the game I was hoping to watch.

Cuba had advanced to the semifinals for the first time in five tournaments, the US (the baseball team) is the defending WBC champion, and the US (the country) has a looooooong history of acting like Cuba – which is roughly the size of Tennessee – is the biggest, baddest, most dangerous meanest threat in the world. With its stupid restrictions on its citizens travelling to Cuba, the US reminds me of this squirrel-phobic guy.

Trea Turner, whose grand slam against Venezuela on Saturday (the biggest hit of his career, he said after the game) propelled the US team to the semifinals, hit two more home runs on Sunday, driving in four runs from his #9 spot in the batting order. Adam Wainwright (4-5-1-1-1, 64) and Miles Mikolas (4-6-1-0-3, 77) each pitched four innings and kept Cuba from making solid contact and capitalizing on its steady flow of baserunners.

On Tuesday, the US – winners of the last WBC tournament, in 2017 – will play the winner of Monday's Japan-Mexico game.

Paul Goldschmidt also drove in four runs, with a two-run dong in the first and a two-run single in the fifth. Mookie Betts went 3-for-5 and scored twice, Nolan Arenado tripled and singled and scored two runs, and Jeff McNeil, who pinch-hit in the fifth, ended up walking twice and scoring twice.

As Cuba faced Wainwright in the first inning, it looked like the game might go a different way. Roel Santos reached on an infield single that second baseman Tim Anderson gloved to his left but his seated throw pulled Goldschmidt off the bag. Yoán Moncada's high chopper along the first base line was gloved by Wainwright after letting the ball bounce and the pitcher had no play. Luis Robert reached on a third straight infield single, grounding a ball past Wainwright that died on the infield grass. After Alfredo Despaigne drew a full-count walk to bring in a run, it was time for a mound visit.

That was also (sadly) when Cuba peaked in the game. Wainwright escaped further trouble by getting a force at the plate, a popup to second and a grounder to short. Betts began the bottom half with a double into the left field corner and Goldschmidt blasted a two-run homer off Roenis Elías, giving the US a lead it continued to pad as the innings rolled by.

Wainwright gave up a leadoff single in the second, committed a one-out error in the third, and allowed a two-out single in the fourth, but was never in any trouble. Meanwhile, his teammates turned the game into a rout. Turner hit a solo shot in the second, Pete Alsonso knocked a bases-loaded single in the third, and Arenado tripled in a run in the fourth and scored on a wild pitch.

Cubs scored a run off Mikolas in his first inning of relief. Moncada doubled, went to third on a two-out single to left by Erisbel Arruebarruena, and scored on Andy Ibáñez's single up the middle.

The US loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, thanks to another hit batter, a walk and a single. Elian Leyva walked into that fine mess to face Betts, Mike Trout, and Goldschmidt. And he nearly Houdinied his way out of the inning. Betts lined to short and Trout struck out looking on a slider pinned to the outside black, but Goldschmidt poked a two-run single to right, boosting the US's lead to 9-2.

The US batted around in the sixth, a four-run inning highlighted by Turner's three-run dong and Trout's run-scoring double. Cedric Mullins, who pinch-ran for Trout in the sixth, homered in the eighth.

Moncada, Robert, and Arruebarruena each had two hits for Cuba. Yoelkis Guibert had three singles in four trips, but never advanced beyond first base.

It wouldn't be a proper game recap without some bitching about the announcers. I watched the international feed via Sportsnet which meant my ears were tortured by Dave Flemming and Yonder Alonso when not putting the mute button to good use. (Fun (?) Fact I Learned A Minute Ago: Manny Machado married Alonso's younger sister Yainee in 2014.) 

Flemming was a decent play-by-play man most of the time. I'll give him a 6.5 rating. I chuckled when he said that it was difficult to put into words how amazing the WBC crowds have been, so "we're letting the pictures do the describing". And I genuinely enjoyed his flat, deadpan "Huh" when Miguel Romero's well-spotted strike to US catcher Will Smith was called a ball by plate umpire John Tumpane. (But he called the previous pitch (which was a strike) a ball, so it all evened out.)

Both Flemming and Alonso behaved like obnoxious, proud fathers when Goldschmidt went deep in the first, verbally strutting around and referring to some US players by nicknames they likely made up on the spot. Flemming later referred to US manager Mark DeRosa as "Dee-Ro". I was hoping one of them might refer to Goldschmidt as "P-Gold", but the only person doing that was me, on my couch.

When Turner went boom in the first, Alonso actually yelled out "U-S-A!" with the baritone inflection of a drunken frat bro trying to be hip. He got giddy in the third and expressed what I think was serious amazement at how far Romero walked from the mound after fanning Goldschmidt. As if he might need to call a cab to get back for the next batter. Soon, Alonso was yelling encouragement to the US players. You're in a booth in the sky and there are almost 36,000 fans below you yelling their fuckin heads off. The guy on second base cannot you!

The game also provided me with a preview of what the uniforms will look like once MLB starts allowing advertising with the gusto it has exhibited for its other ruin-the-game-to-grab-every-goddamn-dollar-we-can schemes. In addition to the now-obligatory Nike swoosh on the right chest, the US players' shirts featured a DirectTV ad on the left sleeve and a backwards (why?) American flag on the right. The batting helmets had T-Mobile stenciled on the side that faced the camera on the opposite side of the field, so the name of the client was clearly visible no matter on which side of the plate the batter stood. Gotta focus on the important things.

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