BARCELONA, Spain — Spain beat Germany 3-2 in ten innings Friday night, winning on a wild pitch after Omar Hernández tied the game with a two-out, two-run single in the eighth.
Luis Guillorme scored from third with Gabriel Lino at the plate. Junior Bonilla got the win, Noah Lindt the loss.
Spain joins Italy at 1-0. Italy beat Colombia 4-3 in the opener.
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How it happened
Yannic Walther homered on the second pitch he saw in the first, the first home run of the tournament.
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Spain had runners in each of the first three innings and could not score. Frank Hernández doubled to open the game and was thrown out at third. Markus Solbach escaped first and third with nobody out in the third on an inning-ending double play.
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Spain tied it in the eighth. Frank Hernández walked with two outs, Guillorme singled him to third, and Solbach’s night ended. Dalton Von Schamann hit Edison Valerio with his first pitch to load the bases, and Omar Hernández singled to center to score both.
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Rubén Menes struck out the side in the eighth with runners on the corners and nobody out.
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In the tenth, under the tiebreak rule, Germany bunted its runners over and Spain intentionally walked Walther. Bonilla got a pop-out and struck out Simon Bäumer.
Spain bunted its runners over, Germany intentionally walked Félix Stevens, and the wild pitch ended it.
What they said
Marvin Benard, Spain’s manager: “Baseball’s a weird game. If you looked on paper, we were in control, but we’re losing 2-0. Our pitcher gave up two hits and they happened to be two home runs. We had nine hits at one point. They had three. But we just couldn’t get that one clutch hit.”
On Germany’s starter: “Their starter did an amazing job. Everything he was throwing was falling for a strike. I think he struck out about five in a row at one point.”
On his veterans: “You gotta play defense, you gotta hit, you gotta run the bases. A couple of the guys didn’t hit today, but they were amazing defensively. The key is they’re veteran enough to separate the offense from the defense. When you have younger players who don’t understand how to separate, they take their offense onto the field and it costs you games.”
On his staff, which includes Adam Jones: “When we get guys like that, it carries a lot more weight. The guys appreciate it and they get to hear different ways of approaching catching, pitching, hitting. There’s always someone to tell you this or that, but it carries a little more credit when an ex-major leaguer tells you.”
Luis Guillorme: “Winning the first one is the most important one. Every win is important, but the first one sets the tone.”
On the two home runs: “Leyva pitched great. That stuff’s gonna happen. We were able to limit the damage. We didn’t score early, but we always had people on. I don’t think people counted on us that much, for some reason. That’s the type of team Spain is — whether we start ahead or come from behind, you’re gonna have to play hard to beat us.”
On Omar Hernández: “Once you get to Triple-A you’re catching a lot of different guys and you’ve got to learn on the spot. The difference between two years ago and now, both offensively and defensively — he’s grown, and he’s really good back there.”
On the Premier12 expanding to 16: “This makes baseball grow everywhere. The first European tournament I played was 2016, and the difference with Germany from then to now, the level’s completely different. More tournaments, more exposure, more MLB bringing guys to do camps here. Baseball’s growing in Europe.”
Quotes gathered by WBN’s Matt Tallarini in Barcelona.
