Abraham Toro homered, Otto Lopez hit a two-run single and Canada defeated Cuba 7-2 to advance out of Pool A at the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Canada won Pool A after tying Puerto Rico at the top of the standings with a 3-1 record and holding the head-to-head tiebreaker with the pool host team. Cuba (2-2) would have advanced with a win.
Canada will face the United States, the Pool B runner-up, on Friday in Houston.
Canadian starter Cal Quantrill pitched five stellar innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run. Quantrill (five) and reliever James Paxton (six) combined for 11 of the Canadians’ 13 strikeouts. Owen Caissie had an RBI sac fly and a run-scoring single, and both Bo and Josh Naylor added an RBI.
Ariel Martinez contributed an RBI single and accounted for three of Cuba’s five hits. Yoan Moncada’s double was the only extra-base hit.
Dominican Republic 7, Venezuela 3
Juan Soto hit the first of four Dominican homers in the first inning, leading his team to a victory in Miami and a four-game sweep of Pool D.
Both teams were already assured of quarterfinal berths ahead of the game. The Dominican Republic (4-0) will oppose Pool C runner-up South Korea on Friday before Venezuela (3-1) will face Pool C winner Japan on Saturday. Both games will be held in Miami.
Ketel Marte, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. also went deep for the Dominican Republic. Guerrero finished 3-for-4, while Marte, Soto and Tatis each had two hits. Tatis’ three-run shot in the fourth inning built a 7-3 lead.
Venezuela scored twice in the ninth inning, on a sacrifice fly by Luis Arraez and an error by pitcher Elvis Alvarado, before Alvarado got Salvador Perez to ground into a game-ending double play.
Maikel Garcia finished 4-for-4 with an RBI double for Venezuela. Eduardo Rodriguez yielded three runs on three hits in 2 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking one.
–Field Level Media
