Cruz missile lifts Dominican Republic to 7-5 win over US

March 13 11:01 2017

Eventually they rattled the Americans.

Team USA scored three runs in the first inning, two on a double by Eric Hosmer.

“Thursday was loud”, said Cruz, referring to the Dominican’s opening game against Colombia.

A stadium-record crowd of 37,446 – of which perhaps 80 percent were Dominican fans – packed into Marlins Park for a game that had been sold out for weeks. Ex-Rays manager Joe Maddon reportedly gets a bump from $5 million to $6 million a year for winning the World Series with the Cubs. It was a blast to be a part of it. “Quintana and their defense, they just impressed everybody”. “I didn’t do that”. Online sports book Bovada.lv lists the Dominicans as 1.5-run favorites, whereas the USA represents a +130 underdog.

Now the US faces a precarious position on Sunday, needing a win to assure advancement to the second round.

Miller hit Jose Bautista with a pitch and allowed a single to Carlos Santana, before having an 0-2 count on Nelson Cruz.

Dominican Republic third baseman and Brito Miami alum Manny Machado earned MVP honors for the Pool C bracket.

The Dominican Republic brought it Fernando Abad, but that made no difference with Crawford coming up clutch as he hit the second consecutive double to put a statement to the rest of the World Baseball Classic.

He then pumped his fist vigorously three times as the ball stayed fair, floated around the bases and seemed ready to tear off his jersey as he reached home, where his teammates waited for him after pouring out of the dugout. “Only in a movie or dream you can describe what occurred”.

However, the Americans showed no hangover Sunday by jumping on Dempster, who retired only one of the six batters he faced before getting the hook. We know that, they know that.

Tanner Roark, who plays for the Washington Nationals, could not get out of bottom of the seventh inning after giving up a leadoff double to Marte. This won’t be Mexico’s first qualifier, either: they had to win their way into the 2017 tournament by defeating Germany, Nicaragua, and the Czech Republic, but unlike Israel, their journey stopped in round one. Yelich and Crawford drew one-out walks in the 10th, advancing on Ian Kinsler’s groundout, with Jones delivering the game victor on a flare to left-center, sending the US bench into delirium in front of 22,580 fans at Marlins Park. USA fans were far outnumbered in the stands, not a surprise in a city that is a gateway to the Caribbean.

For his five innings of work – 61 pitches – Teheran allowed but the single run, two hits, striking out three and walking one.

“My bullpen was good”. “I think I need to channel it a little better, block it out, slow the game down. That’s a game that you remember for a long time, and a great way to kick things off”. “You’ve got a bunch of horns and sirens and all that going on”.

Behind a tenth-inning single from Adam Jones (Baltimore Orioles) the Americans averted perhaps its most embarrassing loss to date in the competition – a tourney opener to a team without one current big league hitter.

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Cruz missile lifts Dominican Republic to 7-5 win over US
 
 
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