Canada advanced past the first round of the World Baseball Classic for the first time, beating Cuba 7-2 on Wednesday in a winner-take-all game in San Juan, Puerto Rico, thanks to Abraham Toro’s homer and Otto Lopez’s two-run single.
Brothers Bo Naylor and Josh Naylor drove in, Owen Caissie had two RBIs and reliever James Paxton struck out six in 2 2/3 scoreless innings for Canada (3-1), which eliminated the Cubans (2-2) and won Group A over Puerto Rico (3-1). Cuba was eliminated in the first round for the first time.
Advertisement
Canada and Puerto Rico will play the quarterfinals in Houston this weekend.
Cuba finished with three errors, and left fielder Ariel Martinez allowed Toro’s catchable fly from the seventh to fall for a double. The Canadians opened the game with a three-run sixth inning that included a fumble pop-up, a fake pop that fell, a wild throw and a catcher’s interference call on Andrys Perez, whose passed ball led to Canada’s first run.
Later Wednesday, Mexico and Italy were scheduled to play in Houston in a Group B match that will determine whether the United States advances.
Cuba escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first when Matt Davidson hit a late-inning jumper against underdog Livan Moinelo, but Canada took the lead in the third on Caissie’s sacrifice fly. Toro homered in the fifth on a Yariel RodrÃguez splitter, a 420-foot drive to right.
Advertisement
Cuba scored in the bottom half on a Yoelkis Guibert penalty against game-winner Cal Quantrill, who allowed one unearned run and two hits in five innings.
Canada opened a 3-1 lead in the sixth thanks to Bo Naylor’s double.
Martinez drove in a run in the bottom half with his third hit and Josh Naylor had an RBI single in the seventh on a soft fly to left that popped off the glove of Martinez, who attempted a sliding catch.
Cuba went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Adam Macko escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when Yiddi Cappe swung a curveball and James Paxton struck out Moncada in the seventh to leave runners on the corners.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
