Jeff PassanESPN10:43 PM ET4 Minute Read
Trea Turner homer twice for USA in WBC semifinals
Trea Turner homers twice for his country against Cuba, bringing his total to three homers in two games.
MIAMI — The world’s No. 9 batsman helped send Team USA to the finals of the World Baseball Classic.
A day after his starting shot at the Grand Slam saved his tournament, Trea Turner hit two home runs and drove in four runs on Sunday to lead the United States 14-2 past Cuba in front of a tense, sold-out crowd of 35,779 at the LoanDepot Park.
On a night where chants of “Libertad!” rang out intermittently throughout the stadium and a protester ran onto the field in the top of the sixth inning holding a banner calling for the freedom of prisoners of the anti-government protests in Cuba on July 11, 2021. The United States dismantled a Cuban team whose appearance in the semifinals exceeded pre-tournament expectations.
Protesters with Cuban flags also tumbled onto the field in the seventh and eighth innings, underscoring the tension created by the Cuban national team playing here for the first time.
However, the night on the field belonged to Turner, the 29-year-old shortstop who signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in the winter and has spent the last four WBC games finishing ninth for a team are filled with superstars. On his first shot after the grand slam in the eighth inning that propelled the US past previously undefeated Venezuela on Saturday, Turner hammered out a solo home run in the second inning that gave the US a 3-1 lead. Turner’s three-run blast in the sixth turned a game teetering on the precipice of a blowout into an undisputed game and gave Team USA a 12-2 lead.
American stars shone up and down the lineup. Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts went 3 for 6 and hit twice. Paul Goldschmidt, whose two-run home run in the first race gave USA a lead they never gave up, had two hits and drove in four races. Cleanup hitter Nolan Arenado went 2 for 3 with two carries before leaving the game after being hit by a pitch. (X-rays were negative.) Cedric Mullins homer to account for the last run. Turner’s line was the best of them all: 3 for 5 with four RBIs, giving him a tournament-best 10. Turner also set a US record for home runs in a WBC (four) and tied the mark for home runs in a WBC game with Ken Griffey Jr., who serves as Team USA’s batting coach.
Cuba, fielding a team in an international tournament featuring Major League Baseball players for the first time, looked overwhelmed for most of the evening, though its hot start upset a crowd with supporters of the team, if not its administration. Three infield singles by US starter Adam Wainwright filled the bases with no outs and a walk by Alfredo Despaigne gave Cuba a 1-0 lead.
Wriggling out of the jam and not looking back, Wainwright then threw three scoreless innings before giving way to St. Louis Cardinals teammate Miles Mikolas, who followed with four more innings and sidestepped problems to concede just one run scoring allow Andy Ibanez single in fifth.
Next up for Team USA is the winner of Monday night’s Japan and Mexico competition. Japan will launch its 21-year-old flamethrower phenom, Roki Sasaki, and also plans to throw Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has won the Sawamura Prize – Japan’s equivalent of Cy Young – in each of the past two seasons. Mexico, who gave the US their only WBC loss by beating a team from Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals, will start with Los Angeles Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval.
After Japan won their first two WBCs in 2006 and 2009, Japan lost in the semifinals in 2013 and 2017, the latter to the US team, which won the tournament. Mexico have never made it into the last four of the tournament.
By using Wainwright and Mikolas, US coach Mark DeRosa narrowed the options to start the Finals to right-hander Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks, right-hander Brady Singer of the Kansas City Royals, left-hander Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies, or one Helper who served as the opener.