US Captures World Baseball Classic Championship For First Time Ever
The USA has won the World Baseball Classic for the first time ever! What a game it was! Marcus Stroman had a no-hitter into the 7th inning SHUTTING DOWN Puerto Rico. He allowed one hit over 6 innings of work, walked just one, and sat down 3. In 9 innings US pitchers gave up just 3 hits to the young explosive Puerto Rican offense. The US offense went to work scoring 8 runs on 13 hits. Ian Kinsler had a day going 2 for 5 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. On the Puerto Rico side Angel Pagan went 2 for 4. Starter Seth Lugo went 4 innings allowing 4 earned runs on 5 hits, and struck out 7 while walking 4. The big difference between pitching performances was that even though Marcus Stroman struck out just 3 batters it kept his pitch count low which then allowed him to reach the 7th inning. While Lugo got deep into counts and he could only last 4 innings. Another factor was that Stroman only walked one batter… the whole US team only walked 2 batters in total while Puerto Rico walked 7 as a team and 4 of those were Lugo’s. Pitching was obviously the factor in this game, Stroman was dominant stalling the Puerto Rican offense while Lugo wasn't that great causing the US offense to explode for 8 runs and a blowout victory. Marcus Stroman took home the MVP. This was also the first time ever the US had won the World Baseball Classic and they did it with a pretty tough schedule defeating the defending champion Dominican Republic team in the second round after a Giancarlo Stanton missile, and an Adam Jones home run robbery. Then they beat the 2006 and 2009 champion, and 2013 third-place team Japan in the semifinals. In the finals they defeated an undefeated Puerto Rico team that were the runners-up in 2013. This was a great year for the WBC and baseball itself. It got great ratings and was very popular. All in all this was a tremendous WBC with tons of highlights and great stories!
