Canada vs. Colombia Game Highlights | 2023 World Baseball Classic

The most important day of this classic for these two teams. Both these teams played yesterday, Buck. They both lost. That makes today really important. The pitcher for Team Columbia is Adrian Almeida. He actually pitched in game one against Mexico. He faced three batters and threw 13 pitches, so he gets the nod to open up this game. To the plate, and Julian knocks that into center field. That's a base hit. It's kind of in the gap. Mercado sliding to get it. And Julian, with a big turn, will hold at first. Check swing, and he went. That is strike three. Boy, Adrian Almeida looks nasty out there. And this is Noah Sciro. Yeah, Sciro's got a lot of strikeout ability. And he misses outside, and he loses Urshela. Columbia's got a runner at first. Big right-handed bat, pulls it on the ground. Toro, Julian, Freeman. That's a double play. Wow. That's a strike. And that was right on the edge, around the knees, and on the outside part of the plate. Yeah, he's had a good breaking ball, and one time through the order, five strikeouts through nine hitters. Freeman going after the first pitch, pops it up. Urshela was shifted and has to come all the way over into foul ground and make the catch. And that's a liner into left field, and Mercado is aboard, cut off there by Young. We'll count three and two. Let's see if Mercado might be in motion here at first base. Running, swing and a miss. One-hop throw. Oh, got him. How beautiful is that? Lopez with the pick on the nailer throw, and Canada gets a strike him out, throw him out, double play. And it hits Young. And so Almeida, who looks so good through the first three, has given up a hit and dotted Young on the arm. That'll bring the manager out of the Columbia dugout. He's making his way toward the mound. San Martin pitched in the Mexico game. Got him. It felt like Lopez was behind that hole at bat. And that's an off-speed pitch. It sinks down and away, and he chases a bad pitch. Golden opportunity for Canada to make something happen here. Oh, one pitch here. To center, tagging at second and holding there with Mercado making the catch. Well, here's Naylor, who bounced out back in the second. Now the one-two. Naylor hits a fly ball into shallow right center. It's going to fall for a base hit. Canada's got a run. O'Neal scores. Young to third. He'll hold there. And it's one-nothing. Lefty on lefty. He got enough of it to just dump it in. Good at bat by Naylor, and, yeah, he didn't hit a rope, but he hit it into no-man's land. They were shifting him around to right, the second baseman. Diaz was out in shallow right field, but he couldn't get there. Naylor hits it off the end of the bat. And with two outs, everybody's moving on contact. O'Neal's going to come in to score. Young goes first to third, and Canada cashes in. Here now is Casey. Ray versus San Martin. Got him. Strikes out Casey, but Canada's on the board. Ramirez hits one to left. Hits it well. Top of the wall. Herrera, and around first, Ramirez holds. I mean, he hit it hard, but he doesn't get to second. That's a long line drive single. Yeah, leading off the inning, after you've fallen behind, you cannot expect that you've hit it out. And you can see he's coming out of the box, keeping his eye on it, and then turns it on when he sees it hits the top of the fence. That's not Freddie Freeman at first base. I was just about to say that. For some reason, Freddie Freeman is out of the game, and that has caused a lot of different moves on defense. Let's go back to the third inning. The final swing of Freddie Freeman, and you can tell, running gingerly to first base, a sign of some discomfort there. We are told it is a slight hamstring issue. Up the middle, that's where Canada's playing. Flip there, Lopez turn, pick there by Young. That's some nice defense. Three double plays already for Team Canada. And here's Julian, his first at bat against this lefty. Knocks it in the gap, into right center, got to go to the wall, Julian racing for second, thinking three and holding at two. Second hit, he's been on base all three times, and Canada's in business. But remember, it's not Freeman. Here comes Denzel Clark. Julian is a terrific, good-looking young hitter. That was a breaking ball. He stays on it and gets it past the center field of Mercado. Clark got a start last night against USA, and he gets hit here. And so Clark is on his way to first base, 2-0. In the dirt, Diaz gets a piece. Both runners move up. When the bases open at first, they put O'Neal on, give him the intentional pass. Breaking ball, high pop-up, shallow center. Mercado is in. That's Julian at third, and that's not deep enough to even try it. So San Martin wins that battle. Columbia has a precious out. And we're going to have a pitching change here. Hubert Cabrera will go to the right-hander down in the pen. And that right-hander, John Romero, is coming in. Slow tapper towards third. Urshela kind of got tied up with the runner but gets the ball across in time to get the out. Little tricky play. Columbia holds the line. It's 1-0. Again, Casey's over, and again, Casey makes the play. All three outs over there. Noah Sciro has been outstanding for Canada. And a right-hander out of the bullpen now for Columbia. Pedro Garcia pitched against Mexico in the first game for Columbia. Runner goes, big jump, throw down, and into center field it goes. Clark takes a peek. Mercado scoops it up. That's a stolen base. Into center field. Diving catch, Mercado. Run-saving catch in a big, big game. Canada 1, Columbia nothing. Seventh-inning stretch. Roller out to short. Lopez on the run. That's a nice inning for Curtis Taylor. On to the eighth, Canada holding on to this 1-0 lead. Lopez lines it. In the gap, right center, and he can run. Ramirez up with it. On his way to third, Otto Lopez. He has really come into his own with the bat. He's had a lot of strength. He knows this is two for sure and maybe three. Takes a look at the outfielder. Hustles around at third base. Tim Laper is telling him to hold up here. Just a fastball that he threw by him at 94. And we had mentioned, game Canada, one for nine with runners in scoring position. Now one for ten. O-two, swing and a miss. Garcia, big strikeout. The triple by Lopez, a pair of strikeouts, and now Owen Casey, who's O for two with a walk and two Ks. Liner, base hit. Canada gets the run in. Georgia, Casey can hit a fastball, and he is confident enough to use the whole field in a home run against Great Britain, and now he drives in the second. You can see that was a fastball. You could see him tell Larry Walker, hey, Walker, got on the heater, man. What a great swing by Owen Casey, the 20-year-old. Big, big run. Canada has him filled. Two-one. Up the middle. Frias, the flip, inning over, but a huge run for Canada. Lopez tripled in the eight. You ask him to bunt again? Drive to left. That ball's deep. That ball's gone! Three-run shot! Oh, Canada! Five-nothing! That's better than a bunt, Buck. Much better than a bunt. Otto Lopez tripled and scored in the eighth inning, and now he comes up with the biggest hit of the ballgame. A capper. A three-run home run here in the ninth inning. Urshela now. There's a drive, left field, towards the line. Over, Robson, there, and he's got it! And Canada wins it. Canada will play Mexico tomorrow for a ticket to Miami.