Team USA has officially made it back to the World Baseball Classic Championship after defeating Team Cuba in a 14-2 contest. Team USA is looking to repeat as champions after their 2017 campaign. Last night, Trea Turner, once again, stepped up and provided a huge part to the clubs victory. His two home runs and 4 RBI night capped off his historic run thus far.
Paul Goldschmidt was also a huge piece in USA’s victory. His two hits, including a home run, and 4 RBI just added to Turner’s performance. Pete Alonso, Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado, Tim Anderson, and Cedric Mullins all chipped in with an RBI each.
As stated before, if Team USA had a downside to this stacked team, it had to be their pitching. Last night was a completely different story. The two Cardinals pitchers did exactly what manager’ Mark DeRosa needed. Adam Wainwright ran into some trouble in the 1st inning, but settled down quite quickly in his 2nd and 3rd innings of work. Miles Mikolas relieved Wainwright in the fifth inning. Mikolas served his 4.0 innings, while only giving up 1 ER. The two longtime Cardinals came up huge and did exactly what was needed. Once the 9th hit, Aaron Loup closed the door on Team Cuba, allowing only one hit.
Team USA will now have to sit and wait until tonight’s Japan vs Mexico game is over to see who they will meet in the WBC Championship. First pitch for Japan vs Mexico will be at 7:00 PM EST. Patrick Sandoval for Team Mexico will be on the mound against Roki Sasaki of Team Japan. The championship game will be held at loanDepot Park at 7:00 PM EST on Tuesday.