SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — One game to go and Canada will either finish atop Pool A or once again fail to advance at the World Baseball Classic.
The national team’s fate all depends on Wednesday afternoon’s clash against Cuba, when Cal Quantrill starts against NPB star lefty Livan Moinelo, after a 3-2 win over Puerto Rico on Tuesday night set the stage for the high-stakes group finale.
Victory over the now 3-1 hosts, who’d already clinched a quarterfinal spot, before an amped-up crowd of 18,997 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium was a nice to have, but not essential for the Canadians (2-1). Either way, there’s no advancing without a win over Cuba (2-1), an unfortunate byproduct of Sunday’s loss to Panama.
The Canadians bounced back from that sloppy setback — when they handed the Panamanians three unearned runs — with a much crisper effort, one they’ll need to repeat Wednesday.
“That's the beauty of this sport. You play to get to this position,” said manager Ernie Whitt. “We knew coming into tonight's game, if we had a chance to win, we wanted to win, but we know that this win was nice, but it doesn't mean anything unless we win tomorrow.
“So we have to play a clean game, as I've said all along. We play a clean game, our pitchers throw strikes, I'll take our chances.”
That was the formula versus Puerto Rico, as a strong defensive play by centre-fielder Denzel Clarke helped starter Jordan Balazovic shake off a walk, walk, Nolan Arenado RBI single opening, fielding the ball and relaying to third for a vital out as Heliot Ramos tried to go first-to-third.
“The grass was wet, so it got to me fast,” said Clarke. “(Ramos) was running in my face and honestly, I felt really surprised and a little disrespected, so I threw it to third and got him out. It felt good. … It just takes one little instance to change the momentum, change the game.”
The play did just that as Balazovic settled from there, retiring seven of the next eight batters, with Liam Hicks erasing Matthew Lugo, the only hitter to interrupt that streak, when he tried to steal second in the second.
Clarke then did it with the bat, too, breaking Jose De Leon’s run of eight straight outs to open the game by lashing a single to right. Edouard Julien followed with a single before Josh Naylor got hit on the right arm to load the bases, with Tyler O’Neill and Tyler Black working consecutive walks off Rico Garcia to put Canada ahead.
Both of them rallied after falling behind 0-2.
“Really trying to respect the strike zone up there and not expand, tried to get something over the plate that I can handle, I didn't get it that at-bat,” said O’Neill. “Once I got 0-2, I was just trying to battle the best I could. Worked out in our favour. Tyler had a great walk behind me, as well. Just a really good collective effort.”
An Owen Caissie double and Abraham Toro single, for his third RBI of the tournament, to open the fourth made it a 3-1 game. But Logan Allen surrendered a run-scoring groundout in the bottom half to pinch-hitter Martin Maldonado that made it 3-2 before the lefty locked in to escape the frame and deliver two more clean innings.
Caissie, moved up to sixth in the lineup and making a case for higher Wednesday, walked in the sixth and added a leadoff double in the ninth, when Canada loaded the bases but came up empty.
No matter, Brock Dykxhoorn, only added Feb. 22 as a roster replacement when Carter Loewen was removed due to an insurance issue, looked calm and in control as he went nine-up and nine-down to close out the win.
“Glad I looked calm, the heart was definitely racing,” said Dykxhoorn, a Houston Astros sixth-rounder in 2014 who’s heading into his seventh season with the Uni-President Lions in Taiwan. “I would do anything to be here. I told the coaching staff that as a late addition, even if I didn't get in the game, I was happy to be here, happy to be with the guys, Baseball Canada is so important to me."
“To be put in a spot like that, to come through, I'm happy for the team,” he added. “Credit Jordan and Logan, they did a great job holding them in check for the first six innings. I just wanted to do my part and I'm glad I could.”
Their work left the Canadians with lots of options in the bullpen for Cuba and portioning out usage accordingly, while ensuring the right arms are available for Wednesday, was part of the tightrope that needed walking.
“That was Plan A and it actually worked — very seldom does Plan A ever work,” said Whitt. “But we had Plan B and C and D. Then we were in trouble after D.”
Now, they aim for an encore.
Advancing in international play isn’t solely dependent on the number of games a team wins but also winning the right ones to end up on the right end of tiebreakers.
For instance, Canada stunned the powerhouse United States at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 but missed out on advancing because they lost the game they needed to win versus Mexico. In 2013, they again had a chance to move on but lost their finale to the Americans while in 2023, they lost another win-and-in to Mexico.
The clash with Cuba will either flip the script or bring more disappointment.
“We come into all these games expecting to win,” said O’Neill. “Don't take anything for granted. It doesn't matter the team on the other side. The boys in there, we're confident in ourselves. We know the talent we have and the impact we can collectively make and individually make over the course of a ballgame.
“It's just a matter of coming out, playing hard again, trusting ourselves.”
Joy or pain awaits.
