World Classic: Difficult to win if you don’t take advantage of the opportunity, Molina
The manager of Puerto Rico, Yadier Molina, pointed out what were the causes of his team’s defeat in the quarterfinals against the surprising Italian team.
HOUSTON — Puerto Rico’s dream lasted less than a full inning in Houston in the quarterfinals.
The Puerto Ricans were the new victim of the Italian baseball team, which won 8-6 on Saturday at the Astros stadium and advanced to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic.
Puerto Rico opened with a home run by the first batter of the game, Willi Castro. But in that same initial inning the Italians responded with four runs on pitcher Seth Lugo and never looked back.
“We started the game well, but they made their adjustments,” said Puerto Rico manager Yadier Molina. “In the first half of the game we couldn’t stop them with our pitching. They have super good hitting and their pitchers worked well. We left too much on the field. In a tournament like this it’s difficult to win if you don’t take advantage when you have the opportunity.”
The pitching that had led Puerto Rico, which arrived with the second best effectiveness of all participants in the tournament, fell early and was never really able to get up due to the difficulty of finding the strike zone.
Seven walks helped little for the Puerto Rican cause, who also suffered when hitting, as was the story throughout the Classic. They reached the eighth inning with only three hits, including Castro’s home run.
Timely hitting never existed for the Puerto Ricans in this Classic. This Saturday, for example, they left 10 runners on base and were only able to get one hit in the nine times they had runners in scoring position.
The Puerto Ricans brought most of the 34,291 fans who supported them to their feet in the seventh inning when they scored their last four runs. But Nolan Arenado ended the rally, leaving two men on base.
That was Arenado’s story throughout the Classic; his first with Puerto Rico, after two with the American team. He was never able to hit in the most important moments.
“Our pitching got us to this round,” Molina said. “We were able to adjust. But at the same time, Italy adjusted and their hitters did a good job. We left all our bases loaded. We had problems on offense. We need to improve on offense, because that cost us.”
It is unlikely that any Clasico fan will be surprised that Italy travels to Miami to face the semifinals for the first time in its history.
Before facing Puerto Rico, they were only down one inning on the scoreboard; 1-0 against Great Britain in their opening match of the tournament. And they have scored at least eight runs in four of their five games and seven or more in all of them.
His 12 home runs in the first four games were the second most in the current Classic, only behind the Dominican Republic. They are the first European team to win five consecutive games.
The Italian starters will arrive with a 3-0 record with a 1.00 ERA in the semifinals against the winner of the match between Venezuela and two-time champion Japan.
“Italy is a team that has been playing very well,” said Molina. “They are undefeated, with a 5-0 record. They are a very balanced team. They have brought in very young, really fast players.”
“As for their pitching, it’s something they handle excellently,” he added. “They have a really good coaching staff. And I know these young talents can have a great performance in the semifinal.”
