The 2017 World Baseball Classic was full of great action on Sunday, March 12 in three locations around the world. Here are the results for Sunday's game that include Team USA vs. Canada, the Dominican Republic vs. Colombia, Italy vs. Puerto Rico, Mexico vs. Venezuela, Cuba vs. Israel and Japan vs. Netherlands.
Team USA blanks Canada, advance to next round
The Americans were able to shot down Team Canada on Sunday at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. Matt Duffy pitched four innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts. Mychal Givens, Tyler Clippard, Jake McGee and Nate Jones combined all pitched scoreless innings to finish off the Canadians 8-0, per USA Today.
Team USA jumped all over Canada's Ryan Dempster to score seven runs in the first two innings to put the game away early led by a homerun by Nolan Arenado. Giants star catcher Buster Posey added another homerun in the seventh inning. The Americans travel to San Diego's Petco Park next for the second round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Japan Wins Thriller Over the Netherlands
Two-time World Baseball Classic champions Japan defeated Netherlands in an 11-inning thriller in Tokyo in second round action. Sho Nakata hit a single to drive in two runs to beat the Netherlands. According to Newsday, Japan had two runners to start the 11th inning because of the tournament's tiebreaker rule.
Japan had a 5-1 lead over the Netherlands in the third inning but the Dutch was able to tie the game with help from the two-run homerun by Wladimir Balentien. The game was tied 6-6 after nine innings with Japan winning 8-6 in the eleventh.
Israel Maintains Undefeated Record
The most surprising team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic is Team Israel. The team composed of Jewish MLB players who never set foot in Israel maintained their undefeated record with 4-1 win over Cuba in Tokyo.
Solid pitching and timely hits helped Israel beat Cuba to improve to 4-0 in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Jason Marquis started the game for Israel with Zack Borenstein hitting the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning, per SportsNet.
Other Results for March 12
The Dominican Republic defeated Colombia 10-3 in 11 innings in Miami while Puerto Rico prevailed over Italy 9-3 in Jalisco, Mexico. Hosts Mexico also got a hard-fought 11-9 win against Venezuela to force a tiebreaker with Italy, per the official website of the World Baseball Classic.
© 2023 Sportsworldnews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
