MIAMI – Intent on setting themselves up for a win-and-you’re-in game versus the United States on Sunday, the Canadians’ slim hopes of advancing at the World Baseball Classic rest first and foremost on a Dominican Republic victory Saturday night.
A sloppy 4-1 loss to a gritty and spirited Colombia squad Saturday afternoon left the national team 0-2 at the tournament and in need of lots of help.
The Dominican Republic meets the United States at Marlins Park and a victory by the defending champions against the Americans plus another win Sunday afternoon against Colombia (1-1) could leave three teams at 1-2 – should the Canadians triumph over their southern neighbours.
At that point, a complex tiebreaker system that could make a mathematician vomit would be applied to see which two teams would play in a tiebreaker game Monday.
So, it’s possible that Canada is playing for something other than pride Sunday, but not especially likely.
That will hurt the Canadians, who wasted a strong four-inning start from Philadelphia Phillies prospect Nick Pivetta, watched Dalton Pompey leave the game after hitting his face into the dirt while stealing second base, and saw Eric Gagne return to a grand baseball stage with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
When all seemed lost, they brought the potential tying run to the plate in the ninth against closer Dayan Diaz and Jamie Romak thought he had taken ball four on a 3-1 pitch before striking out to end it before a pro-Colombian crowd of 17,209.
Still, even more frustrating is that the defeat is rooted in the type of poor execution atypical of the national team.
Canada’s only opening against Atlanta Braves ace Julio Teheran came in the first when Justin Morneau walked before consecutive singles by Eric Wood and Freddie Freeman pushed the slugger from New Westminster, B.C., across.
But the Canadians helped him off the hook when Tyler O’Neill swung through a fastball on a hit and run and Freeman was thrown out at second base. O’Neill struck out to end the inning, the first of 13 straight batters Teheran retired before exiting after five.
Pivetta hung with Teheran over his four innings but was hurt in the third when Jhonatan Solano’s soft flare to right fell just in front of Romak for a single.
After a fielder’s choice moved him over, Donovan Solano snuck a single up the middle that Dalton Pompey bobbled in centre, allowing the run to score. Had he fielded it cleanly, Jhonatan Solano either holds or is probably out at home.
Colombia took the lead in the fifth when Tito Polo singled with two outs off Ryan Kellogg, stole second and scored on Donovan Solano’s base hit.
And the Colombians added on in the sixth when with one on and two out, Adrian Sanchez hit a grounder up the middle that Pete Orr fielded cleverly. But Jorge Alfaro beat out his soft flip to second extending the inning. Rowan Wick then walked the bases loaded and Gagne walked in a run to make it a 3-1 game before escaping the jam.
Gagne kept things there over the next two innings before Scott Mathieson took over. He allowed a leadoff double to Jhonatan Solano and then fielded Polo’s sacrifice bunt, spent too long looking at third base and then threw the ball away at first, allowing a run to score.
For a team with an already minimal margin for error, and one that isn’t able to hit its way out of trouble, the Canadians simply didn’t give themselves a chance.
POMPEY EXITS
Pompey left the game in the eighth inning after hitting his face on the dirt stealing second base in the sixth inning.
The Toronto Blue Jays centre-fielder immediately called time after his slide, removed his helmet and lay on his stomach for several minutes. A trainer helped clean him up, and eventually he stayed in the game and played one defensive inning before leaving after experiencing dizziness.
Pompey suffered a concussion, among other injuries, last year.
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