US survives scare from Colombia in extra innings
MIAMI: The US survived a scare in their World Baseball Classic opener on Friday as they needed a walkoff single from Adam Jones to defeat Colombia 3- 2 in 10 innings.
Jones went two-for-five at the plate and his game-winning single to left-center field came off Colombia relief pitcher Guillermo Moscoso.
“I’ve had a lot of good moments with the (Baltimore) Orioles playing against Major League Baseball teams, but this one ranks up there pretty high,” Jones said.
In the night game, TJ Rivera belted a two-run home run in the seventh inning as Puerto Rico cruised to an 11-0 mercy-rule victory over Venezuela in just seven innings.
Colombian southpaw pitcher Jose Quintana carried a no-hitter through five innings until Brandon Crawford belted a two out single to right field in the sixth in front of a crowd of 22,000 at Marlins Park.
Quintana, who plays for the Chicago White Sox, left the game but not before he recorded four strikeouts and walked just one batter.
Friday’s performance does not bode well for the USA ahead of Saturday’s highly- anticipated contest against defending champion Dominican Republic who boasts Major League Baseball stars like Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Manny Machado, Adrian Beltre and Jose Bautista on their roster.
The US did not expect much of a struggle from Colombia, one of the lowest ranked teams in the tournament.
But for a time Friday, it seemed like Colombia’s very green group of players might engineer their own “Miracle on the Diamond” by beating the mighty US in their first ever appearance in the 16- team international tournament.