HOUSTON (AP) — Aaron Judge doubled and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Brice Turang each had two hits as the United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night to reach the World Baseball Classic semifinals.
The U.S. squad rebounded after an 8-6 loss to Italy in pool play left them needing help to advance to this round.
The Americans move on to face the Dominican Republic in a semifinal on Sunday in Miami, with Paul Skenes starting against the Dominicans’ Luis Severino. It will be the team’s third straight appearance in the semifinals and the fourth overall.
It’s another big win for the U.S. over its neighbors to the north, coming after the U.S. hockey team beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the gold medal at the Milan Olympics last month.
Bo Naylor hit a two-run homer in Canada’s three-run sixth that cut the deficit to two runs. But the U.S. bullpen closed it out, capped by Mason Miller striking out the side in the ninth for the save.
Canada, which was in the quarterfinals for the first time, fell to 1-5 against the U.S. in the WBC.
Canada trailed by five runs when Owen Caissie walked with one out in the sixth and moved to second on a groundout by Abraham Toro. Tyler Black’s RBI single off Brad Keller cut the lead to 5-1.
Naylor’s shot to the second deck in right field came on Gabe Speier’s fifth pitch and got Canada within 5-3. It was the 10th home run the U.S. has allowed in five games in the tournament.
Canada had a shot to close the gap in the seventh when it had runners on second and third with no outs. But David Bednar retired the next three batters, with two strikeouts, to escape the jam.
U.S. starter Logan Webb allowed four hits and walked one with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Bobby Witt Jr. was on with one out in the first when Judge doubled before Witt scored on a groundout by Kyle Schwarber to give the U.S. an early lead. The double by Judge was the only extra-base hit of the night for the U.S.
Canada had a runner on first with two outs in the second when Witt made a leaping catch on a ball hit by Edouard Julien to end the inning.
The bases were loaded with two outs in the third when Alex Bregman singled on a ground ball to Toro. His throw to first sailed over Josh Naylor’s head and into the dugout and two runs scored to make it 3-0.
Roman Anthony singled with one out in the sixth before a walk by Cal Raleigh. Brice Turang singled on a grounder to center field to score Anthony and push the lead to 4-0. Crow-Armstrong sent the next pitch into center field for an RBI single before Witt grounded into a double play to end the inning.
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