BOX SCORE & PLAYS | CUMULATIVE STATS
TEPIC, Mexico – Team USA loaded the bases in the top of the ninth but stranded the tying runs in scoring position, falling 5-3 to Venezuela in Group A play at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 presented by RAXUS on Monday night.
Entering the final frame trailing by three, the United States (1-2) was able to string together a rally to give itself a chance. Luke Ritter kicked off the inning with a single and Ryan Ward followed with a walk to get the tying run to the plate. After a strikeout put Team USA down to its final two outs, back-to-back walks drawn by Justin Crawford and Colby Thomas made it a 5-3 game. But Venezuela (2-1) went to the bullpen and brought in Oddanier Mosqueda, who put an end to the rally with two strikeouts to give his side the victory.
The ninth inning was the second frame in a row where the U.S. got the tying run to the plate. In the eighth, a Thomas single and a Termarr Johnson walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt, got Matt Shaw to the dish as the tying run. Shaw worked a full count but was caught looking at strike three, keeping Team USA down by three runs before its last-ditch effort in the ninth.
Prior to the late-inning drama, the contest was a back-and-forth affair early on before Venezuela strung together a three-run sixth to take hold of the game. Venezuela struck first on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Perez to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third, but the advantage was short-lived. Shaw led off the top of the fourth by crushing a home run deep to left center field to knot the score at one; it was Shaw’s second homer in as many games and his eighth hit in 10 at-bats.
Venezuela responded in the bottom half of the fourth to regain the lead. After U.S. starter Zac Grotz was lifted from the game with two outs and no one on, Herlis Rodriguez singled and Diego Castillo doubled off Cam Vieaux to put Venezuela in front 2-1.
The Venezuela lead lasted until the top of the sixth, when Shaw drove in another run for the stars and stripes. Chandler Simpson hit a one-out infield single and flew around the bases to third on an error, setting the table for Shaw to crack a sacrifice fly to right field as the score became knotted at two.
The back-and-forth game continued in the bottom of the sixth when the seesaw tipped Venezuela’s way, helping it pull away with a three-run frame. Carlos Perez led off with an infield single and Ramon Flores worked a four-pitch walk before both advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Rodriguez then hit his second single of the game, serving an 0-2 pitch into center field to drive in the go-ahead run. Castillo followed by dropping a bunt down and a defensive miscue resulted in the ball being thrown into center field, bringing another run home. Angel Reyes bunted the next pitch back to Eric Adler–who entered to start the inning–which resulted in a 1-3 put-out but brought another run home. All told, Adler (0-1) was charged with three runs (two earned) in the sixth as Venezuela took a 5-2 lead.
After Team USA went down in order in the seventh, Austin Drury and Dan Altavilla turned in perfect innings to keep the U.S. within striking distance and set the table for the eighth and ninth inning rallies. Drury needed just six pitches to get through the seventh and Altavilla struck out two batters in the eighth.
Venezuela used five pitchers to get the last six outs of the game. Before that, starter Mario Sanchez (1-0) gave the U.S. lineup all it could handle; the southpaw tossed six innings and allowed two runs while striking out 10. Jose Alvarez pitched a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts before the parade of relievers entered out of the Venezuela bullpen. Mosqueda retired the final two batters, freezing Drake Baldwin and getting Johnson to chase an 0-2 pitch to secure the win. In total, Venezuela’s pitching staff struck out 16 Team USA batters.
The United States mustered only five hits in the loss. Shaw continued his hot stretch by going 1-for-3 with the fourth-inning homer. Simpson had a hit for the third consecutive game, and Thomas reached base in both of his plate appearances (1-for-1, RBI walk).
On the mound, Grotz allowed one run on two hits over 3.2 innings. He had multiple long battles in the outing, winning a 10-pitch at-bat against Alexi Amarista in the first and striking out Jermaine Palacios after a 14-pitch saga to retire his final batter of the start. Vieaux surrendered a run in his 1.1 innings and Adler yielded three (two earned) to suffer the loss before Drury and Altavilla each retired the side in order.
Team USA will be back in action on Tuesday night against Panama. First pitch from Coloso del Pacifico will be at 7:00 p.m. local/9:00 p.m. ET, and all of the action will be streamed live on DAZN.
