Mexico avenged a humiliating loss to Australia and advanced to the second round of the World Baseball Classic with a 16-1 rout of the Aussies that was halted after six innings on Wednesday.
Karim Garcia went 4-for-4 with two home runs, scoring four times and driving in four more runs to pace a 13-hit barrage and put the Mexicans into the second round at San Diego for a double-elimination showdown starting on Sunday.
The Australians opened with a 17-7 romp over the first-round group hosts that was halted after eight innings under the same mercy blowout rule that stopped the Aussies early in their farewell.
PHOTO: AFP
Mexico’s humbling loss sparked harsh criticism and inspired two triumphs for the hosts to advance from the loser’s bracket.
Defending Classic champions Japan, reigning Olympic champions South Korea and international dynasty Cuba will join Mexico in fighting for two semi-final berths.
Cuba and Mexico were due to meet yesterday in the final game of the opening round to decide a top seed and finalize the pairings for Sunday’s San Diego openers. Yesterdays winners will play Japan while the losers will meet the Koreans.
Meanwhile, Venezuela took vengeance for a blowout loss with a 5-3 win over the US.
Three days after the Americans crushed Venezuela 15-6 to secure a berth in the second round, the South Americans pounded out 12 hits, seven of them for extra bases, and the US Major League Baseball stars stranded 10 base runners.
Venezuela qualified for round two on Tuesday by ousting Italy so the seeding game only helped decide pairings for tomorrow’s second-round openers at Miami, where the US will face Puerto Rico and Venezuela will play the Netherlands.
Gregor Blanco pounded out three hits to spark Venezuela while catcher Henry Blanco smashed a home run and threw out potential tying run Derek Jeter on a steal attempt in the ninth inning to kill a US comeback bid.
Delivering the first US loss was a big boost heading into a matchup tomorrow with the Dutch.
Venezuela seized a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning when Scutaro doubled to left field and scored when Gregor Blanco blasted a two-out triple. Scutaro made it 4-1 with a two-run single to left in the sixth and Melvin Mora singled in another run in the seventh.
A US rally began with Chris Iannetta’s two-run homer in the eighth and the potential tying run reached base in the ninth when Jimmy Rollins walked and Jeter reached on an error by Venezuelan third baseman Luis Maza.
With two strikes on Boston’s Kevin Youkilis, the runners attempted a double steal only to have Henry Blanco throw out Jeter at second base. Fernando Rodriguez struck out Kevin Youkilis on the next pitch to end the game.
In Wednesday’s other match, Puerto Rico advanced undefeated into round two with a 5-0 blanking of the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Alex Rios tripled to drive in one run and scored on a single by Ivan Rodriguez to give Puerto Rico a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning and Geovany Soto made it 4-0 with a bases-loaded single in the sixth.
Puerto Rico added an insurance run in the eighth on a run-scoring double by Alex Cora.
Carlos Beltran hit into a fielder’s choice to plate Jesus Feliciano and open the scoring in the first.
■TAIPEI TO BANKROLL TEAM
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
The Taipei City Government announced on Wednesday evening that it will establish a new baseball team next month to represent the city.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) said that an interdepartmental meeting reached a consensus that the city government should invite Kao Ying-chieh (高英傑) — the former coach of Yankees ace pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) — to serve as head coach of the new team.
Wu said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) had discussed with him and government department heads the feasibility of building a team.
He said the mayor was responding to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan’s (劉兆玄) call for enterprises and local governments to sponsor top-flight baseball teams and revive the sport.
The premier made the call after Taiwan’s disastrous campaign at the World Baseball Classic.
Wu said the new team would cost about NT$30 million (US$868,500) a year, and that the central government’s Sports Affairs Council would contribute a subsidy of NT$10 million, with the remaining NT$20 million coming from donations and the mayor’s second preparatory fund.
“We will meet with Kao Ying-chieh soon, with a view to recruiting coaches and players for the team within the shortest possible time,” he said.
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