Trout propels Team USA into quarterfinals of WBC
PHOENIX » Angels star Mike Trout had three hits and three RBIs, and the United States used a stellar night from its deep bullpen to beat Colombia 3-2 on Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic.
Mexico and the U.S. both finished 3-1 in Group C to advance, but Mexico gets the top seed because it beat the U.S. 11-5 on Sunday. The Americans will face Group D winner Venezuela (4-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT in Miami, while Mexico will face Group D runnerup Puerto Rico (3-1) today.
Trout, who had a firstinning triple among his hits, is the first U.S. player to have a three-hit, threeRBI game since Team USA manager Mark DeRosa did it against Venezuela in 2009, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“I just think he's one of the best players of all time,” DeRosa said of Trout afterward. “He was coming off 16, 17 at-bats in spring training and no one is in midseason form like that, but I think some of these games that we played — Mexico woke us up. He had some great ABs in the Canada game. That bullet he hit to right to start it off was pretty special. He looks really good at the dish. He's just super confident in what he's able to do.”
Trout singled in the third, bringing home Dodgers star Mookie Betts and giving the U.S. a 1-0 lead. Colombia bounced back quickly, taking a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by the Angels' Gio Urshela and an RBI double from Reynaldo Rodriguez.
The U.S. needed to win or essentially lose to Colombia by three or fewer runs to advance, and Trout put the Americans ahead again in the fifth with a two-run single that scored Betts and Dodgers catcher Will Smith.
“This is the (most fun) experience I've had in baseball, to represent your country,” Trout told reporters afterward. “It's been a blast. Being part of this atmosphere means a lot to me. I knew going in it was going to be a fun time. I never knew it was going to be this fun.”
Merrill Kelly gave up two runs on four hits in three innings for the Americans. Kelly then gave way to a parade of hard-throwing bullpen arms: Kendall Graveman, Daniel Bard, David Bednar, Jason Adam, Devin Williams and Ryan Pressly each threw a scoreless inning, giving up just two hits over the final six frames, to finish the win.
“They all have to be great,” DeRosa said. “It comes down to the players. You can sit up all night and script and plan it. They have to execute.”
Colombia started the tournament with an upset victory over Mexico but then lost three straight to Canada, Great Britain and the U.S. The U.S. beat Great Britain, Canada and Colombia.
The game drew a crowd of 29,856 at Chase Field.