U.S. nips Colombia in WBC
Retired manager Jim Leyland was back at his familiar perch on the dugout steps Friday night, looking tense as he watched his U.S. team go hitless until the sixth inning and flirt with a devastating defeat before pulling out a 3-2, 10-inning win over Colombia in Miami in its first game of the World Baseball Classic.
“Now you know why I’m not managing anymore,” Leyland said with a laugh.
He and his players could smile only after Adam Jones hit the winning RBI single with two out in the 10th.
U.S. starter Chris Archer of the Tampa Bay Rays retired all 12 batters he faced. Colombian starter Carlos Quintana held the Americans hitless until Brandon Crawford singled with two out in the sixth.
In a WBC opener for both teams in Jalisco, Mexico, Carlos Correa, Yadier Molina and T.J. Rivera homered during a sixrun seventh as Puerto Rico beat Venezuela 11-0 in a game shortened to seven innings by the mercy rule.
In Tokyo, Alfredo Despaigne hit a grand slam in the fifth inning to lead Cuba over Australia 4-3 and into the second round of the WBC. Pitcher hit in head: Toronto reliever T.J. House was taken off the field in an ambulance after being hit in the back of the head by a line drive in the ninth inning of a Grapefruit League game against Detroit in Lakeland, Fla.
The left-hander was struck by John Hicks’ sharply hit ball. House was face down on the mound for nearly 20 minutes. The Blue Jays said Friday night that test results were normal but House would be hospitalized overnight for observation.
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said House’s injury was among the scariest things he has witnessed in a baseball game. “When I went out there, his face was in his glove,” Ausmus said. “There was blood on his face, blood in the glove — everything.” Bettis’ cancer: Colorado righthander Chad Bettis is taking a break from baseball to undergo chemotherapy after discovering that his testicular cancer has spread. Bettis, who had a testicle removed Nov. 29, said a biopsy last week showed that the cancer had returned.
“I am committed to beating this cancer,” he said. Exhibition highlights: In his first appearance for the Mets in two years following his recovery from Tommy John surgery, Zack Wheeler reached 94 mph and allowed one run — Matt Tuiasosopo’s third spring training homer — in two innings of a 5-2 loss to Atlanta. Wheeler, a former Giants prospect, gave up two hits and a walk . ... Tim Tebow went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in a Mets split squad’s 7-6 loss to Houston . ... Albert Pujols went 0-for-2 with a walk in his first action since foot surgery in December, in the Angels’ 4-2 loss to San Diego.