The 2023 World Baseball Classic is in the quarterfinal stage, and Friday’s slate features an anticipated matchup between Puerto Rico and Mexico. The action takes place at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, where the rest of the World Baseball Classic games will be held.
To get to this point, Mexico took care of business in its final game of Pool play against Canada, 10-3, on Wednesday and advanced first out of Pool C. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico qualified as Pool D’s runner-up behind a Venezuela team with a perfect record. Puerto Rico’s clutch victory over the Dominican Republic secured its position in the quarterfinal.
The winner of today’s game will go up against Japan in the semifinal.
The WBC began March 7 and will end on March 21 with the championship game (Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, FS1) in Florida. Quarterfinal games will take place March 15-18, followed by the semifinals from March 19-20.
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Here are the top plays!
On the board
Puerto Rico tallied the first run of the game with a sac fly to deep right field by Emmanuel Rivera, allowing Kiké Hernández to score.
Back-to-back home runs
Javier Báez launched a home run that result in two points, and then Eddie Rosario followed it up with another homer, putting Puerto Rico ahead 4-0 at the top of the first inning.
Javier Báez and Eddie Rosario go back-to-back as Puerto Rico takes a 4-0 lead over Mexico
Javier Báez and Eddie Rosario hit back-to-back home runs as Puerto Rico took a 4-0 lead over Mexico in the Quarterfinal of the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Mexico responds
After a dominant first inning for Puerto Rico, Mexico began composing its response in the second, starting with this homer by Isaac Paredes to make it 4-1.
Isaac Paredes crushes a solo home run, trimming the Puerto Rico lead over Mexico to 4-1
Isaac Paredes crushed a solo home run that trimmed the Puerto Rico lead over Mexico to 4-1.
Deep dive
Puerto Rico’s Hernández made a beautiful diving catch to send Joey Menses off the field and maintain the lead.
Ouch!
Marcus Stroman‘s pitch got away from him with Isaac Paredes at bat, and Paredes took a pitch to the shoulder which awarded him a walk.
Chipping away
Mexico fought hard to chip away at Puerto Rico’s early lead and set itself up well in the fifth inning with an Alex Verdugo single that brought Alek Thomas home to make it 4-2, as well as leaving all three bases loaded …
… But an over-the-shoulder catch by Juan Soto halted the base-runners in their tracks.
Put me in, coach
Yacksel Ríos replaced Stroman on the mound and brought a fresh wave of energy to the Puerto Rican squad by getting them out of a sticky situation.
Stay tuned for updates!
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