Connect with us

Published

on

MIAMI — The best No. 9 hitter in the world helped send Team USA to the World Baseball Classic finals.

One day after his go-ahead grand slam saved their tournament, Trea Turner hit a pair of home runs and drove in four runs Sunday to lead the United States past Cuba, 14-2, in front of a highly charged, sold-out crowd of 35,779 at LoanDepot Park.

On a night where chants of “Libertad!” rang throughout the stadium intermittently and a protestor ran onto the field in the top of the sixth inning holding a banner calling for the freedom of prisoners from the July 11, 2021 anti-government protests in Cuba, the United States dismantled a Cuban team whose appearance in the semifinals exceeded pre-tournament expectations.

Protesters holding Cuban flags crashed the field in the seventh and eighth innings as well, highlighting the tension prompted by Cuba’s national team playing here for the first time.

The night on the field belonged to Turner, the 29-year-old shortstop who signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies over the winter and has spent the last four WBC games hitting ninth for a team filled with superstars. On his first swing following the eighth-inning grand slam that pushed the U.S. past previously undefeated Venezuela on Saturday, Turner hammered a second-inning solo home run that staked the U.S. a 3-1 lead. Turner’s his three-run blast in the sixth turned a game teetering on the precipice of a blowout into an undoubted one, putting Team USA ahead, 12-2.

Up and down the lineup, American stars shone. Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts went 3 for 6 and scored twice. Paul Goldschmidt, whose two-run home run in the first gave the U.S. a lead it never relinquished, had a pair of hits and drove in four. Cleanup hitter Nolan Arenado went 2 for 3 with two runs before leaving the game after being hit by a pitch. (X-rays were negative.) Cedric Mullins homered to account for the final run. Turner’s line was best of all: 3 for 5 with four RBIs to give him a tournament-best 10. Turner also set a U.S. record for home runs in a WBC (four) and tied the mark for home runs in a WBC game with Ken Griffey Jr., who is serving as Team USA’s hitting coach.

Cuba, for the first time fielding a team in an international tournament with players from Major League Baseball, looked overmatched for most of the night, though its hot start riled up a crowd filled with supporters of the team if not its government. Three infield singles off U.S. starter Adam Wainwright loaded the bases with no outs and an Alfredo Despaigne walk gave Cuba a 1-0 lead.

Wainwright wriggled out of the jam and didn’t look back, throwing three scoreless innings after that before giving way to his St. Louis Cardinals teammate, Miles Mikolas, who followed with four more innings, working around trouble to allow only a run-scoring Andy Ibanez single in the fifth.

Next up for Team USA is the winner of Japan and Mexico, who play Monday night. Japan will start its flamethrowing 21-year-old phenom, Roki Sasaki, and also plans to throw Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has won the Sawamura Award — Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young — each of the last two seasons. Mexico, which handed the U.S. its only WBC loss and beat a game Puerto Rico team in the quarterfinals, will start Los Angeles Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval.

After winning the first two WBCs in 2006 and 2009, Japan lost in the semifinals in 2013 and 2017, the latter to the U.S. team that won the tournament. Mexico never has made the final four of the tournament.

By using Wainwright and Mikolas, U.S. manager Mark DeRosa narrowed the options to start the finals to Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly, Kansas City right-hander Brady Singer, Colorado Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland or a reliever serving as opener.

Continue Reading

Sports

Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

Published

on

By

Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

Published

on

By

Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

Continue Reading

Sports

Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Published

on

By

Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Trending