03/11/26 07:09:00
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03/11 01:19 CDT A stunning U.S. loss to Italy leaves World Baseball Classic
fate hanging
A stunning U.S. loss to Italy leaves World Baseball Classic fate hanging
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) --- The surprising loss by the United States to Italy in the World
Baseball Classic Tuesday night means that the Americans need help to advance to
the quarterfinals.
The 8-6 defeat left the team with a 3-1 record at the end of its pool schedule.
Mexico and Italy wrap up Pool B play Wednesday night where a win by the
Italians will give the U.S. second place and a spot in the next round.
If Mexico wins then all three teams will move to 3-1 and 1-1 against each other
and send it to a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker is the number of runs allowed in games between the tied teams.
So, the U.S. could also advance even if Mexico wins if it scores at least five
runs.
Aaron Judge, who struck out in the ninth to end it Tuesday night, is
disappointed that the team failed to take care of business against Italy.
"It's the toughest thing," he said. "You always like having your destiny in
your own hands and we had it right in front of us and Italy came out swinging."
The Italians hit three home runs in the first four innings to build a five-run
lead and were up 8-0 before the U.S. got on the board.
After the game U.S. manager Mark DeRosa fielded questions about whether he
thought his team had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals with Monday
night's win over Mexico because of his comments on a television appearance
Tuesday morning.
In that interview he said: "Ton of respect for Italy --- it's weird --- we want
to win this game even though our ticket's punched to the quarterfinals because
Mexico plays Italy actually tomorrow. So, the way the schedule lines up this is
an important game for us."
In the interview room he said he "misspoke" in that segment and in a later
interview outside the clubhouse he reiterated that he did not think they had
already clinched a spot.
"One hundred percent... I misspoke," he said. "Bottom line."
Judge said the players didn't think that they had already secured a spot in the
quarterfinals and that he didn't know about DeRosa's television interview.
Judge added that the team will probably gather at the hotel to watch
Wednesday's game.
"It's out of our control now," he said. "We just need a little luck and we'll
see what happens."
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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