D-Backs’ Kelly struggles, but US advances
Mike Trout jogged in from the outfield and high-fived Cedric Mullins. Mark DeRosa shared handshakes with his assistant coaches. Paul Goldschmidt held the final out in his glove and walked steadily towards the center of the infield.
That’s where American players congregated Wednesday night, celebrating their 3-2 win over Colombia in a singlefile line of fist pumps and back pats. It looked, from their response, like nothing more than one game out of 162. Watching them, you would have thought this was easy, that the U.S. breezed through pool play into the quarterfinals of the fifth World Baseball Classic.
The reality was anything but. After an 11-5 defeat at the hands of Mexico on Sunday, the U.S. had its backs against the wall. Ultimately, a one- or two-run defeat to Colombia would have been enough to advance, but tangible jeopardy persisted all the way into the ninth inning, when a late rally could have doomed an All-Star cast of Americans to ignominy. It reached that point, in no small part, because of the struggles of Diamondbacks’ righty Merrill Kelly.
With a 65-pitch maximum on starting pitchers in pool play, Kelly began the night hoping to replicate the success Lance Lynn had Monday against Canada, getting through five scoreless frames. Instead, Kelly lacked command throughout.
He was hit hard and walked two batters across the first two innings, but avoided notable damage. Then, in the third, he allowed three balls to be hit over
100 mph and surrendered two runs on a single and two doubles.
The key blow came from Reynaldo Rodriguez, a 36-year-old who spent last season in the Mexican League. Kelly left a two-out, full-count fastball up and Rodriguez made him pay, smacking a 425-foot double off the centerfield overhang. Afterward, Kelly lifted his cap, wiped off his forehead, tossed a rosin bag and waited for pitching coach Andy Pettitte to come out for a visit.
“The inning looked like it might get away from Kelly,” DeRosa said.
It didn’t, but Kelly gave up more loud contact before he was done. This time,
Mike Trout was there in centerfield to snag a sinking liner and prevent more damage, preserving Kelly’s line at three innings, four hits, two walks and two runs.
Ultimately, Trout did more than just preserve Kelly’s line. On a night when the American bats mostly went quiet, their biggest star stepped up. He opened the game with a triple to right-center, singled home a run in the third and then delivered the night’s biggest moment in the fifth, bringing home the tying and winning runs with a single to left.
“He’s just one of the best players of all time at the end of the day,” DeRosa said. “… 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. Just a big moment for him.”
This is the great advantage held by the Americans. When you can stack superstar on top of superstar, fielding perhaps the greatest lineup ever constructed, there’s room for error. That was true not just Wednesday, but all week. The U.S. only found its groove once, against Canada. DeRosa had to piece together a pitching staff that lacked the same star power as the starting lineup.
And yet, there they were Wednesday night, celebrating a berth in the quarterfinals — where they’ll face Venezuela on Saturday — as if they didn’t have to break a sweat.
The moment was especially special for Trout. Having only made one playoff appearance in his Hall of Fame career, he took a leadership role with this team, bringing together most of the country’s best hitters, not including Aaron Judge and the injured Bryce Harper.
“I knew signing up the atmosphere would be electric,” Trout said. “That was one of the reasons I wanted to do it.”
This week in Phoenix surpassed even those lofty expectations. “I never knew it was going to be this fun,” Trout said. Part of that has been getting to know players and coaches from around the league, “seeing how good people they are.” But there’s also been the playoff atmosphere, with U.S. games at Chase Field having averaged nearly 40,000 fans.
“It’s fun baseball,” Trout said. “Hearing USA chanted, the chants in the ninth inning, and you look in the stands and people are waving the American flag, it means a lot to us. And to play for our country, it’s been really fun.”