HOUSTON — The dream World Baseball Classic matchup between Team USA and the Dominican Republic is on — and it will determine which country advances to the championship game.
The United States booked its spot in the WBC semifinals with a 5-3 victory against Canada on Friday night, joining the Dominican team that mercy-ruled Korea in a 10-0 win in seven innings. San Francisco right-hander Logan Webb twirled 4⅔ shutout innings, and Team USA withstood a late Canada rally to set up the Sunday night showdown between the tournament’s two most talented teams.
Team USA ace Paul Skenes will start against the D.R. in the semifinals, with an expanded pitch count — limited in earlier rounds, starters can throw up to 95 pitches in the semifinals and finals — and a lineup of All-Stars in his way. The formidable Dominican offense already has tied a record for home runs by a team in the WBC with 14.
The Americans, meanwhile, have staggered along, far from a dominant force but good enough to sneak out of pool play and slip by Canada in front of 38,054 at Daikin Park.
A run-scoring groundout by Kyle Schwarber in the first inning staked the U.S. to a 1-0 lead, and it tacked on a pair of runs in the third when Canada third baseman Abraham Toro fielded a ground ball with the bases loaded and threw it over first baseman Josh Naylor’s head. The Americans added two more run-scoring singles by Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong in the sixth inning, stretching their advantage to 5-0.
By then, Webb had exited to a standing ovation, seemingly leaving Team USA in good hands. With a near-equal mix of his excellent sinker, changeup and sweeper, Webb held Canada to four hits and struck out five over 71 pitches. He was replaced by Brad Keller, who allowed Canada’s first run on a Tyler Black RBI single in the sixth inning. After Keller left, manager Mark DeRosa turned to left-handed reliever Gabe Speier, who on his fifth pitch allowed a two-run home run to Canada catcher Bo Naylor to shrink Team USA’s lead to 5-3.
The U.S. found trouble again an inning later. New York Yankees closer David Bednar allowed two infield singles, and a passed ball left the Americans facing runners on second and third with no outs. Naylor popped out to third baseman Alex Bregman on a middle-middle fastball. Tyler O’Neill struck out. And on a full count, Bednar got rookie Owen Caissie to chase a splitter, ending the threat.
Boston setup man Garrett Whitlock and San Diego closer Mason Miller secured the final six outs for the United States.
After putting up 24 runs against Brazil and Great Britain in its first two WBC games, Team USA’s offense has been mostly stagnant. Its five runs against Mexico came in one inning. Its six runs against Italy came after it faced an 8-0 deficit. And against a Canadian team that started big leaguer Michael Soroka but spent the last 6⅓ innings throwing minor league arms, its bats struggled.
The D.R. has found no such issues. In five WBC games, the Dominicans have scored 51 runs and are batting .312/.453/.637 as a team.
