Mexico, March 15 (EFE). Mexico lived up to their hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic with a 10-3 victory over Canada on Wednesday and will be dreaming of surpassing their best performance. Participation in the 2006 contest.
The Mexicans, led by Benjamin Gil, took their first of three wins in a Clásico in the first round to become the leaders of Group C over favorites USA, although they would not cross El Tri if they beat Colombia later. , who defeated them last Sunday.
Mexico arrived at the tournament with one of the best six rosters, a base of major league players including Julio Urias, who was a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers; Outfielder Randy Arrozarena for the Tampa Bay Rays and 2021 AL Rookie of the Year, and first baseman Joey Meneses for the Washington Nationals.
In addition, they have players such as pitcher Jose Urquidi, last year’s World Series champion Houston Astros, and Rowdy Tellez, who hit 35 home runs last season with the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished seventh in the Major Leagues last year.
This placed high hopes on Gil’s Mexico, which has accomplished so far after ending the group stage with a loss to Colombia and wins over the United States, Great Britain and Canada.
Gill’s men got it on the back of some fine hitting from Arrojarena, who scored nine runs; De Meneses, brought to the plate with six assists, and De Tellez, with five RBIs.
The pitching hasn’t been as accurate as before, but the pitchers still came together to give up 3.1 earned runs per nine innings, the fifth-best ERA ever in the first round.
Taijuan Walker has been the best Mexican pitcher ever, throwing four one-hit innings against Great Britain, striking out eight and allowing no runs.
Urías, for his part, failed in the first game against the Colombians, allowing three earned runs and three unstoppable runs in five innings.
Julio, third in voting for the National League Cy Young Award in the majors last year, will be able to redeem himself and affirm himself as a Mexican leader when his ninth team plays in the quarterfinals against either the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico this Saturday. Will face the finals. Which will decide the second place in Group D.
If Mexico qualifies for the semifinals, it will sign its best participation in the World Classic since in 2006, the first edition of the tournament, it finished sixth.
