U.S., Puerto Rico jump ahead on busy weekend of WBC action

Baseball

U.S., Puerto Rico jump ahead on busy weekend of WBC action

Published: 12 Mar. 2023, 16:34 Updated: 12 Mar. 2023, 18:02

Kyle Schwarber of the United States, right, celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against Great Britain during the fourth inning of a World Baseball Classic game in Phoenix on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

Puerto Rico and the United States took early leads on Saturday as the two U.S.-based pools entered the fray for the first full day of World Baseball Classic action.

The United States rose to the top of Pool C on the first day of group stage action, beating Great Britain 6-2 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona in a game that was more competitive than might have been expected for Great Britain’s first appearance on the WBC stage.

Great Britain's D'Shawn Knowles, right, celebrates after hitting a triple against the United States during the seventh inning of a World Baseball Classic game in Phoenix on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

The win allowed the United States to edge out Colombia on run differential to take first place. Colombia earlier beat Mexico 5-4 in a close fought 10-inning game, also at Chase Field.

Down in Pool D, Puerto Rico edged out Venezuela for the top spot on run differential after beating Nicaragua 9-1 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

Puerto Rico starting pitcher Marcus Stroman throws a pitch during the second inning of a World Baseball Classic game against Nicaragua on Saturday in Miami. [AP/YONHAP]

Venezuela, appearing later on the same field, beat the Dominican Republic 5-1 to take second place in the pool.

The two U.S.-based pools will continue their group stage through Wednesday, or Thursday in Korea, finishing three or four days after all the action is over in Asia.

Pool A, based in Taiwan, are the first pool to wrap up the group stage on Sunday, with just one game left to play between the Netherlands and Italy as of press time.

On Saturday, Panama beat Italy 2-0 and Chinese Taipei edged out the Netherlands 9-5, putting Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands in the top two spots with two wins and a loss each.

Chinese Taipei's Chang Yu-cheng celebrates with his teammates after their win over the Netherlands in a Pool A World Baseball Classic game at Taichung Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

But Chinese Taipei was undone on Sunday when Cuba rallied to beat the hosts 7-1, jumping from fourth to a qualification spot and knocking Chinese Taipei down from first to fourth and out of contention in the tightly-contested group.

In Pool B, Korea had a rest day on Saturday as Australia beat China 12-2 and Japan beat the Czech Republic 10-2.

Japan’s win on Saturday followed a 13-4 thumping of Korea on Friday and leaves the host side undefeated at Tokyo Dome, with three wins a huge plus-24 point differential as of press time to essentially guarantee advancement to the quarterfinals.

Japan's Shohei Ohtani reacts after reaching second base during a World Baseball Classic Pool B game against the Czech Republic at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on Saturday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Australia is in second place as of press time, although Korea still have a very narrow chance of advancing if they win their last game against China, Australia loses theirs to the Czech Republic and Korea builds up a big enough point differential.

Korea beat the Czech Republic 7-3 on Sunday for their first win of the competition, with Japan set to face Australia in the evening as of press time.

Pool B will finish their group stage action on Monday with the Korea-China and Australia-Czech Republic games.

The Asian side of the knockout bracket will then play their quarterfinals on Wednesday and Thursday, with the winning teams jetting off to Miami for the semifinals starting Sunday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]