When Puerto Rico ousted the United States from the World Baseball Classic on Saturday night, the analysts on the MLB Network said it was perhaps one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, that the upstart Puerto Ricans surprised the world and advanced to the Semi-Finals of the World Baseball Classic while the Americans went back to Spring Training.
If that was the case, what do you call what Puerto Rico did to Japan last night? Japan had been the only winner of the World Baseball Classic, winning the inaugural tournament in 2006 and then repeating in 2009. Japan was the favorite entering the 2013 edition as well, even without their major league stars Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish.
But Puerto Rico sent them packing on Sunday night, advancing to the finals to meet the winner of Monday's Domincan Republic/Netherlands game on Wednesday in the finals.
Mike Aviles of the Indians knocked in the first run of the night for Puerto Rico in the first inning, before Alex Rios of the White Sox drilled a two run shot in the seventh inning to give Puerto Rico a 3-0 lead. Japan was able to scratch across a run in the bottom of the eighth, but that would be it, and Puerto Rico would win the game 3-1.
Puerto Rico lost to the Dominican Republic in the first round during pool play, then lost to the United States in the second round before losing again to the Dominican Republic in the final game of the second round after they had already clinched a spot in the Semi-Finals.
Aviles, mentioned earlier, and Angel Pagan of the Giants have led Puerto Rico during the tournament, with Pagan hitting .367 so far through eight games, and Aviles right behind at .333. The two biggest stars on the team, the Cardinals' Yadier Molina and Rios, have struggled during the tournament to drive in runs, with Molina yet to knock in a run, while Rios' first two RBI were on the homer in the game last night.
Pitching has really been key for this team, as was never more clear than during the performance by Nelson Figueroa against the United States last Saturday night. He was able to neutralize the powerful offense of the United States, and so far has pitched 10 innings in two starts and has only allowed two runs.
After knocking off the United States and Japan, Puerto Rico fears no one, and a rematch with the Dominican Republic in the Finals on Wednesday is probably what they are hoping to get. It will be quite a contest if those two meet, but I am personally pulling for a Puerto Rico/Netherlands final so we can get a nice surprise winner to this World Baseball Classic and really drum up interest for the next one in 2017.
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