Randy Arozarena and Team Mexico pulled off a World Baseball Classic stunner on Sunday by defeating Team USA in Pool C play, 11-5. With that victory, Arozarena also had the last laugh after getting apparently ignored by USA catcher Will Smith during an at-bat.
“I was happy to see him and I went to say hi, but he left me hanging,” Arozarena said in Spanish about that moment, via Jorge Castillo of The Los Angeles Times. “What am I going to do? I’m not going to cry,” Arozarena continued.
In any case, Arozarena did make Team USA suffer with his brilliance with the bat. He went 3-for-4 with a couple of RBI and three runs. He scored right away in the first inning off a homer run from Joey Meneses and again in the fourth after another blast from Meneses. Arozarena doubled in the eighth inning which also drove Austin Barnes to home plate to extend Team Mexico’s lead, 8-2. Lastly, Arozarena reached home off a Rowdy Tellez single in the same inning. Mexico could not have asked for a better way to rebound after a 5-4 loss to Colombia in its first game in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Patrick Sandoval started for Mexico in the USA game, tossing three innings one one-run ball on two hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts. Nick Martinez absorbed the loss on the mound for Team USA.
Coming up next for Mexico in this World Baseball Classic is a matchup against Great Britain on Tuesday before finishing pool play on Wednesday versus Canada.
Follow Us
Subscribe