MIAMI – Intent on playing a win-and-you’re-in game versus the United States on Sunday, the Canadians are hoping for another Dominican Republic victory on Sunday afternoon to give themselves a shot at advancing in the World Baseball Classic.
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 a strong start from Ryan Dempster in the finale plus lots of help.
The Dominican Republic provided some later Saturday by rallying from a five-run deficit with four in the eighth off Andrew Miller to beat the United States 7-5. Another win by the defending champions against Colombia (1-1) on Sunday would mean a Canadian triumph over the Americans in the evening would leave three teams at 1-2.
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. Under that formula, in which the lowest total of runs allowed in games between the tied teams is divided by defensive innings, Canada would need to either beat the Americans by at least three runs or win by shutout in 10 or more innings.
So, it’s still possible that Canada is playing for something other than pride Sunday, but not especially likely.
"As slim as it sounds, we still have a chance," said manager Ernie Whitt. "As slim as it sounds, we have to be positive."
Regardless, putting themselves in this position hurts for the Canadians, especially since they wasted a strong four-inning start from Philadelphia Phillies prospect Nick Pivetta, watched Dalton Pompey leave the game under MLB’s concussion protocol when he experienced mild dizziness, and saw Eric Gagne return to a grand baseball stage for the first time since 2008 with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
They still managed to bring 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 that went for strike two. He then struck out to end it before a pro-Colombian crowd of 17,209, leaving Canada to root for the Dominicans as they get set for the Americans.
“We can go out there and try to ruin a tournament for them," said Freddie Freeman, who drove in Canada’s run in the first and started the rally in the ninth with a hustle single. "We can go out there and play a good game and put ourselves in contention. We still have a chance but we need some help."
Had the Canadians executed a bit more crisply, they might not have needed that help.
Their only opening against Atlanta Braves ace Julio Teheran came in the first when Justin Morneau walked before consecutive singles by Eric Wood and 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 as Freeman broke for second trying to steal against his Braves teammate, getting called out on a very close play.
"I thought I was safe," said Freeman. "He’s a 1.7 (second delivery) to home plate. Trying to get two guys in, try to put some pressure on them, obviously the call didn’t go our way."
Instead of men on corners one out, Canada was left with a runner on third and two out, and O’Neill struck out to end the inning, the first of 13 straight outs for Teheran before he left after five.
"He’s a two-time all-star for a reason and he showed it right there," said Freeman. "He was a little amped up in the first inning, he gave up a run and then he went back to being himself."
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 Pompey bobbled in centre field, 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.
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 to extend the inning, Rowan Wick walked the bases loaded and Gagne walked in a run to make it a 3-1 game before escaping the jam.
"It’s a situation that I know how to handle but I came in maybe too hyper, trying to do a little too much instead of going after him," said Gagne. "I threw a change-up 1-0 that was a rookie mistake."
Gagne kept things there over the next two innings before Scott Mathieson took over in the ninth, 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 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.
"We got out of the chute real fast, scored a run and then our bats became silent," said Whitt. "When you have five hits and you only score one run, you’re not going to win a lot of ballgames. At the end we had a chance. We had the tying run at the plate. I guess that’s all you can ask for. …
"A little disappointed in that. I was happy with our pitchers. We kept them in check most of the way, we just didn’t score any runs."
[relatedlinks]
—
FEARSOME FREDDIE:
In spite of the results so far, playing for Canada to honour his late mother has been everything the California-born Freddie Freeman expected, "and more."
"It’s been pretty special," he said. "I would like to be winning, but we still have a chance (Sunday). We need some help in a lot of ways, but we still have a chance to come out and beat up on the U.S. Hopefully that can happen where we can do some damage against them. It’s been a pretty special time. This whole week has been pretty great, pretty memorable, especially with my family in the stands. Hopefully we can end with a win."
Freeman’s mother Rosemary, who died from Melanoma when he was 10, was born in Toronto and his dad Fred is from Windsor, Ont. He collected two of Canada’s five hits, including a hustle single on a ball hit well into right field but into a shift.
"Julio’s on that team, so (the shift) didn’t surprise me," he said. "I’ve never been shifted that big. Obviously when I hit that second one, I definitely thought that was down. I didn’t really know there was going to be a guy out there because I don’t really look at shifts. I just try to see it and hit it and where it goes it goes. … We kind of scared them in the ninth, but we were too little too late."
—
PROPS FOR PIVETTA:
The Phillies were comfortable with Pivetta starting for Canada at the Classic because they believed he has the personality type to really benefit from the experience, and he showed why.
Mixing some breaking balls with his mid-90s fastball, the 24-year-old right-hander held the Colombians to a run on five hits and a strikeout. Pivetta closed out last season with five starts at triple-A, making his performance all the more impressive.
"I felt a lot more emotion in the bullpen than I did once I was on the mound," he said. "Once I was on the mound, I was just focused on throwing strikes, getting first-pitch strikes, pitching to contact, trying to keep my pitch limit as low as possible, so I could make the most out of what I’ve been given.
"I really commanded my fastball. I felt like my off-speed wasn’t all there, but I was able to get away with my two-seam, and that helped me a lot and kept those guys – they’re a good hitting team – down to a run, which was good. I would have liked to have gone out there and given up no runs, but keeping them down there, it gave us the fighting chance."
—
GREAT GAGNE:
Throw out the 2009 season with the Quebec Capitales of the independent Can-Am League and two one-off outings in each of the past two years, and Eric Gagne’s outing Saturday were his first pitches of major consequence since Sept. 25, 2008.
Manager Ernie Whitt threw him right into the deep end, calling on the right-hander with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth.
"I was nervous, I was scared, I was everything you could think of. The first day of school is exactly that," Gagne said of his feeling running in from the bullpen. "But that’s why I’m here, a veteran guy that’s been there. I feel like I’m a closer and that was a closing situation. I didn’t come through. I’m glad it was me out there, I’m glad it wasn’t one of the young guys, that’s what I’m here for, to teach them, hey, everybody is going to fail. I did everything I could, I just tried to do a little too much."
Gagne recovered from a five-pitch walk to Solano and a 3-0 count to Polo to get a fly ball that ended the inning, before allowing only a single walk in the seventh and eighth innings, striking out two batters.
"The next inning was a lot better, I started breathing a lot better," he said. "You come in and think you can control your emotions and I did pretty good, but sometimes after eight, nine years on the shelf, you’re a little amped up a little bit, try to do a little too much and that’s what I did. A couple of mistakes mentally, but physically I felt great. We played really hard, we didn’t give up, that’s what we do."
By throwing 33 pitches, Gagne will be ineligible to pitch in Sunday’s finale against the United States. He’s already worked out for five big-league teams and by sitting 93-94 with his fastball and throwing some good change-ups, he’s hoping that a big-league team will give him a chance.
"I know I can pitch. Whether I can do it at the major-league level, maybe I get a chance somewhere, I don’t know, we’ll see. Right now I’m having fun with it. We’ll see," he said. "There’s a lot of stuff going on but right now it’s Team Canada."
