U.S. rebounds, routs Canada
A day after losing to Mexico, the United States rebounded in a big way in the World Baseball Classic.
Mike Trout hit a threerun homer as the U.S. scored nine runs in the first inning on the way to routing Canada, 12-1, on Monday night.
Nolan Arenado, Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto each drove in two runs for the U.S., which improved to 2-1 in Pool C and leads the pool. Canada is tied with Colombia and Mexico for second place, each with 1-1 records.
On Sunday night, the U.S. was pounded by Mexico 11-5. Joey Meneses hit two homers, including a crucial three-run shot in the fourth inning, for Mexico in Phoenix.
Meneses got the sellout crowd of 47,534 — mostly cheering for Mexico — on its feet in the first inning with his first homer, which gave Mexico a 2-0 lead. Those cheers got even louder in the fourth for his encore, which was a blast deep into the left-center seats that brought home Randy Arozarena and Alex Verdugo and made it 7-1.
Meneses hit his first homer off starter Nick Martinez, who took the loss, and the second off Brady Singer. Mexico starter Patrick Sandoval gave up one run over three innings, earning the win.
The 30-year-old Meneses became an unlikely MLB slugger in 2022 after spending over a decade in the minors and playing overseas. He debuted with the Nationals last season, batting .324 with 13 homers in just 222 at-bats.
PUERTO RICO 10, ISRAEL 0 » José De León and three relievers combined to pitch a perfect game as Puerto Rico routed Israel in a game called after eight innings because of the tournament's 10-run mercy rule.
De León tied a WBC record with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. The righthander was lifted after he fanned Spencer Horwitz on his 64th pitch, one under the tournament limit for starting pitchers in the first round.
BRITAIN 7, COLOMBIA 5 »
Jaden Rudd hit a go-ahead two-run double in the fifth inning, Harry Ford added a solo homer and Britain won its first game of the WBC. Graham Spraker got the win by pitching 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief while Ian Gibaut earned the save.
SOUTH KOREA 22, CHINA 2 »
Kunwoo Park and Ha-Seong Kim hit grand slams in consecutive innings, and South Korea set a World Baseball Classic scoring record with the rout over China in a game between already eliminated teams. South Korea broke the runs record that had stood since Japan beat China 18-2 in the first round of the initial WBC in 2006. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 6, NICARAGUA 1 » San Diego Padres stars Juan Soto and Manny Machado homered, and the Dominican Republic picked up its first win of WBC pool play. AUSTRALIA 8, CZECH REPUBLIC 3 » Milwaukee Brewers prospect Alex Hall had four RBIs as Australia advanced past the first round for the first time in five WBC appearances, finishing second in the group behind Japan.