Turner, Goldschmidt propel U.S. into WBC’s final
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Jeff PassanESPN
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.
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Greg Wyshynski
The sea of white in Winnipeg chanted “M-V-P!” in unison during the Jets‘ Game 2 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday night. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck heard and appreciated those chants.
“It means a whole lot. I love this crowd. I love this city,” said Hellebuyck, who stopped 21 shots in Winnipeg’s 4-0 victory that evened their Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1.
It was Hellebuyck’s first playoff shutout since a 1-0 blanking of the Edmonton Oilers in the first round in 2021, and the fourth postseason shutout of his career. Hellebuyck led the NHL with eight shutouts in the regular season, which helped him become a finalist for the Hart Trophy as league MVP and for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender, an award he won last season and in 2020.
Prior to Friday night, he had not been that same goaltender in the postseason.
Considered by many the best netminder in the world, Hellebuyck was the worst goalie statistically in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs entering Game 2. He was 4-4 with an .836 save percentage, the lowest for any goalie with at least three postseason games played. He was last in the playoffs through eight games with a minus-9.68 goals saved above expected. He had a 3.75 goals-against average as well, after sporting a GAA of 2.00 and a .925 save percentage in the regular season.
Yet the Jets’ faith in their goaltender never wavered.
“We rely on him. Sometimes too much. But he was incredible tonight,” said defenseman Josh Morrissey, who missed Game 1 against Dallas and most of Game 7 against St. Louis with an injury. “That’s what he does every night for us. He’s an incredible goaltender. He makes very difficult saves look very easy, routinely and often. You could tell he was feeling it tonight. When he’s feeling it like that, it gives the players in front of him a lot of confidence.”
Jets coach Scott Arniel said his goalie was “fantastic” in Game 2.
“Sometimes we take him for granted because he makes the hard look easy, but he had some acrobatic ones tonight,” Arniel said.
That was especially true in the second period. The Jets built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Gabriel Vilardi and Nik Ehlers, whose shot deflected off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell. Hellebuyck made nine saves in that opening frame.
“We pushed hard in the second to try and climb back in the game,” said Dallas coach Peter DeBoer. “Hellebuyck made some saves. We get one there, maybe the momentum shifts. But that was the game. He was a good. He was really good. We can always make it more difficult on him, but he was really good.”
After the game, Hellebuyck told Sportsnet that he believed he was back on his game after the shutout win.
“Now it’s locked in. We broke it down to build it back together,” he said. “I like where it’s at. I like where the team’s playing. I’m really excited for the series. It’s been fun.”
Whether the fun continues on the road for Sunday’s Game 3 is anyone’s guess.
Hellebuyck was a disaster in the Jets’ three games in St. Louis, giving up 16 goals on 66 shots (.758 save percentage) and getting pulled in each loss. In his past eight postseason road games, Hellebuyck is 1-7 with a .838 save percentage and a 5.19 goals-against average.
“We’re still playing hockey, and it’s May. That’s fun. It’s the best time of year, because you’ve dialed your game in all year long,” Hellebuyck said.
The Jets said they need to be better in front of their goalie on the road.
“It’s going to be a tough building. They grabbed home ice from us by winning Game 1,” Arniel said. “It’s [about] lessons learned. Take some of the things from that series. We know we have to do a lot of what we did tonight.”
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