At the beginning of the actions of the V World Baseball Classic in Phoenix, Arizona, a spectacular relay by the fast Colombian Guillermo Zúñiga and an error by the Mexican defense in the tenth inning gave the ninth coffee team its first win (5-4). in the event and left in oblivion the great performance of Randy Arozarena.
The Cuban patrolman who defends the Aztec flannel stole the show in the early stages of the game with a double and a huge line drive that went home run through left field in the fifth inning. The shot flew 112.5 miles and traveled 389 feet to slip into the bullpen from Chase Field.
At that moment, Arozarena leveled the game 3-3 and took away the loss from the Dodgers’ left-handed star Julio Urías, who had allowed three runs from the Colombian ship in five innings.
With the score tied, the two teams scored again in the seventh. Colombia made the cross with a double by catcher Jorge Alfaro and an unstoppable RBI run by Reynaldo Rodríguez, while the Mexicans got their score on singles by Alek Thomas, Austin Barnes and Alex Verdugo, who scored the RBI.
Thus they advanced until the tenth inning, when the Colombians went through the register due to an error by shortstop Luis Urías with a runner on third base. That single race was enough of an advantage for the coffee closer Guillermo Zúñiga, who pulled the bolt with fastballs of more than 100 miles.
The reliever, hired by the St. Louis Cardinals, retired two blank innings, with four strikeouts and one walk, enough to take the victory, the second for Colombia in the history of the World Classics.
The defeat in the opening match of group D puts Mexico in a compromising situation, as they lose to a direct rival in the fight for one of the two tickets to the next phase.
In the other result of this key, the United States defeated Great Britain 6-2 with offensive prominence by Nolan Arenado and Kyle Schwarber, who drove in five of the six northern scores. Arenado hit three hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in two, while Schwarber hit a long home run (428 feet) with two teammates in circulation.
Starting on the mound, starter Adam Wainwright retired four innings with just one clean allowed (Trayce Thompson’s home run), four strikeouts, one walk and five hits. Reliever pitchers Jason Adam, Kyle Freeland and David Bednar retired six via strikeouts and allowed just three allowed hits and one run in five innings.
