Mike Trout pulled Team USA to the Quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)
Team USA advances to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday with a 3-2 win over Colombia, making up for a big stumble against Mexico with back-to-back wins.
The Americans finish second in Pool C 3-1, level on points with Mexico but losing the head-to-head tiebreaker. They meet Venezuela in the quarter-finals on Saturday in Miami (FS1).
US captain Mike Trout came through with all three of his team’s RBIs and went 3-on-4 with a triple that night. The starting shot came in the fifth inning when the Los Angeles Angels star turned on Will Smith and Mookie Betts to give USA a 3-2 lead.
The American bullpen held it from there, with Kendall Graveman, Daniel Bard, David Bednar, Jason Adam, Devin Williams and Ryan Pressly all throwing scoreless innings after starter Merrill Kelly allowed two runs in the third.
Reaching the quarter-finals seemed inevitable given the strength of the US line-up, but the defending champions found themselves in a weak position after a narrow 11-5 defeat by Mexico in their second game. The US had to beat both Canada and Colombia, with a bizarre tie-break looming if they lost on Wednesday.
Team USA reaches the World Baseball Classic bracket
The United States were the last team to make the bracket portion of the WBC, closely followed by Puerto Rico after their upset win over the Dominican Republic in a de facto eliminator early Wednesday.
Group A winners Cuba have already advanced to the semi-finals by beating Group B runners-up Australia. Group B winners Japan will meet Group A runners-up Italy and Mexico will meet Group D runners-up Puerto Rico. As things stand, the US would face Cuba if it got past Venezuela.
Venezuela, led by MLB stars Jose Altuve and Ronald Acuña Jr., looks set to face a tougher challenge than anything the U.S. has seen in the game of pool, and the safety net that saved Americans after losing to Mexico is now away.
Wednesday’s win over Colombia means the US continues its winning streak from the pool game, which it has done at every World Baseball Classic since the inaugural 2006 tournament. But all of those MLB All-Stars probably agreed to play with a back-to-back championship, and now it’s getting harder.