Germany Beats Colombia 6-1 Behind Christian Pedrol’s Complete Game

BARCELONA, Spain — Christian Pedrol threw a complete game with ten strikeouts and Billy Germaine drove in five as Germany beat Colombia 6-1 on Saturday, October 10.

Pedrol allowed two hits on 126 pitches. Germaine singled home two in the fifth and hit a three-run homer in the seventh.

Colombia is 0-2. Germany is 1-1.

How it happened

Eric Brenk doubled with two outs in the second for the game’s first hit.

Colombia scored first in the third. Darío Borrero singled, Jesús Marriaga walked, a sacrifice bunt moved them up, and Dayan Frías grounded out to score Borrero.

Germany tied it in the fourth when a routine fly ball fell in right with two outs and Brenk scored from second.

The fifth broke it open. Darrion Richards singled to lead off, Colombia went to Roberto Pérez, and Tristan Russell doubled Richards to third. Yannic Walther was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Germaine singled to left to score two.

In the seventh, Yoryi Simarra walked the leadoff man, Kermin Guardia came in and walked Walther, and Germaine hit a three-run homer on Guardia’s seventh pitch.

Luis Escobar took the loss after four innings. Colombia used six pitchers and got two hits — Borrero’s single and a double by Carlos Arroyo.

The most comical moment came with Germany up five in the ninth, Simon Bäumer walked and then took off for second on ball three to Finn Bergmann, apparently thinking the walk had sent Bergmann to first. He was thrown out. Bergmann grounded out two pitches later.

The game drew 184. Friday’s games drew 272 and 447.

Christian Pedrol

Nine innings, two hits, one run, three walks, ten strikeouts, 126 pitches.

Pedrol is 26, born in São Paulo, and has pitched for both the Brazilian and German national teams.

The standings

Spain 1-0
Italy 1-0
Germany 1-1
Colombia 0-2

What they said

Billy Germaine, who drove in five: “It’s hard to describe, especially after last night. We were so close to winning and we didn’t come through when it mattered. So to do it today, to stay in the tournament, it’s unreal.”

On Pedrol: “He’s a dog. He does that every weekend for us in the league in Germany. He’s unstoppable once he gets going.”

Christian Pedrol, who threw the complete game: “I knew from the get-go it’s a very strong team we’re facing. I’m glad I could help out the way I did. The offense was really good, the defense was really good. Everything worked out perfect for us today.”

On Germaine’s five RBIs: “That’s a big part of our win. We don’t win a game with a single guy. You cannot strike out 27 guys, you cannot hit home runs only. It’s a team sport, and this crew is a real team.”

On what the tournament means for him: “This was a great opportunity to show what I can do. I went out there and did my best.”

Jendrick Speer, Germany’s manager: “I can’t give enough credit to Christian Pedrol. He was stellar. I saw during the year in our league what he’s capable of, and he deserved to have that really good game today.”

On catcher Vincent Ahrens, who caught all 126 pitches: “He’s a big experienced catcher and I like to pair him with Pedrol. They work together really well.”

On beating Colombia: “Colombia is full of prospects and professional baseball players, and we played them heads up today.”

On Sunday against Italy: “We’re going with Niklas Rimmel tomorrow. He’s going to be our third starter in this tournament and I’m really confident. He’s proven what he’s capable of. We’ve got the momentum going, the players are motivated.”

Germaine, on Speer: “I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He does it with mostly German guys, mostly guys from the Deutsche Baseball League, which I think is huge for German baseball. He does a great job just letting us play and making it fun.”

Giovanny Urshela, Colombia’s manager: “A lot of credit to Germany. Their pitcher was outstanding. We never got the chance to answer back the runs they scored. We fought until the last inning.”

On Sunday: “We have to keep battling. We’ve got another game tomorrow. We have to flush this one and get ready.”

On the Premier12 expanding to 16: “It’s great for baseball. More opportunity for more countries. I think it’s going to be great.”

Quotes gathered by WBN’s Matt Tallarini in Barcelona.

How the tiebreakers work

With four teams playing three games each, two or three can finish 2-1.

Two-way ties break on head-to-head: whoever won the game between them finishes ahead.

Three or more teams tied goes to Team Quality Balance, counting only the games between the tied teams. Games against anyone else are ignored.

The formula is runs scored divided by innings batted, minus runs allowed divided by innings fielded. The innings count is exact — a home team that wins in the bottom of the ninth batted 8.5 innings, not nine, and that fraction can decide it.

If TQB is level, the same formula runs again using only earned runs. Then highest team batting average in games between the tied teams. Then a coin toss.

At the 2024 Premier12, the United States needed to beat Venezuela by ten runs to pass Chinese Taipei on TQB.

How to watch

Free on the WBSC YouTube channel outside Spain and Italy.
DAZN carries it for subscribers in Spain and internationally, except in Italy.
Viva Nicaragua carries the tournament in Nicaragua.
Also on GameTime, the WBSC’s subscription platform, with a tournament pass at $14.99.

Tyler Maun and Sam Dykstra of MLB Pipeline have the English-language call.

Germany

World No. 17, and the only team in the field that has never played a Premier12 or a World Baseball Classic.

Jendrick Speer manages. He made his international debut at 16 in 1997 and played for the Untouchables Paderborn through five straight German pennants.

Yannic Walther, a Brewers catching prospect who reached High-A this season, homered off Elián Leyva on the second pitch he saw Friday — the first home run of the tournament. Finn Bergmann added one to center in the seventh.

Markus Solbach threw 6 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts on 108 pitches Friday.

Eric Brenk is the captain. Billy Germaine, a Canadian-born catcher and infielder, led the German league with 14 home runs this season.

Niklas Rimmel threw 124 2/3 innings between the regular season and playoffs, second in the German league, and led it with a 1.80 ERA. He has not pitched yet.

Germany swept Czechia in a three-game warm-up series.

Colombia

World No. 13, the highest-ranked team in the field.

Giovanny Urshela manages, with Dilson Herrera and Sugar Ray Marimón on his staff, both former major leaguers.

Dayan Frías, a Guardians prospect from Cartagena, led off Friday with a ground-rule double on the tenth pitch of the at-bat and stole third with nobody out.

Luis Patiño started Friday and allowed one run over 3 1/3 innings. He pitched 45 major league games for San Diego, Tampa Bay and the White Sox.

Jesús Marriaga is the captain. Outfielder Jaider Morelos arrived from winning the Croatian league, where he hit .473 with four home runs in 27 games for Nada Split.

Colombia has one game left, against Spain on Sunday.

What’s at stake

The top two of four teams advance to the 2027 Premier12, which awards two places in the 2028 Olympic tournament at Dodger Stadium — one to the highest-placed Asian team, one to the highest-placed team from Europe or Oceania.

Colombia can reach the Premier12 but cannot claim either Olympic berth, since both go to Asia and Europe or Oceania. Its Olympic path runs through a final qualifying tournament in early 2028.

Three of the six Olympic spots are filled: the United States as host, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic through the World Baseball Classic.

Full tournament guide here.

The rest of the weekend

Spain vs. Italy — Saturday, 1 p.m. ET
Italy vs. Germany — Sunday, 6 a.m. ET
Spain vs. Colombia — Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

World Baseball Network is in Barcelona all weekend.