Mexico edges Venezuela but out of Classic

By Manny Randhawa / MLB.com

In a wild game with huge implications for Pool D of the World Baseball Classic, Mexico held off Venezuela in an 11-9 victory on Sunday night at Estadio de Beisbol Charros de Jalisco.

As a result, Mexico, Venezuela and Italy all finished with records of 1-2 in pool play. Under Classic tiebreaker rules, the two teams with the fewest runs allowed per defensive inning among the teams tied during the tournament play a tiebreaker, and the other is eliminated.

Major League Baseball announced that Venezuela (1.11 runs allowed per defensive inning) and Italy (1.05 runs allowed) will play tonight at 9 p.m. ET to determine which team from Pool D joins Puerto Rico in the second round. Mexico filed a protest after the game.

The razor-thin margin that decided the tiebreaker is reflective of how three evenly matched these 1-2 teams are. And given the fact that they all lost to Puerto Rico and allowed at least a run per inning in the games against the other two, no team had an obvious case for advancement.

Mexico protested that ruling based on how those figures were calculated. The general manager of Team Mexico, Kundy Gutierrez, told reporters after the game that discussions regarding the ruling were taking place between MLB chief baseball officer Joe Torre and senior vice president of baseball operations Kim Ng. The ruling was later confirmed, and Venezuela will play Italy for the Pool D tiebreaker.

Mexico finished with 1.12 runs allowed per defensive inning, edged out by the slimmest of margins by Venezuela with Sunday's head-to-head outcome. Even though Mexico gave up five runs in the ninth inning of a loss to Italy on Thursday, only eight defensive innings were counted from that game toward the calculation because an out was never recorded in the ninth.

Mexico jumped out to an early 8-1 lead, thanks in large part to a pair of three-run homers from Esteban Quiroz and Brandon Laird. But Venezuela refused to go quietly, scoring eight times between the fifth and seventh innings.

Martin Prado continued to swing a hot bat for Venezuela, driving in two runs with a single and a double. Robinson Chirinos and Victor Martinez each drove in two, with Martinez homering in the seventh.

Roberto Osuna, who was unable to close out Italy despite a four-run lead in the ninth inning of Mexico's Classic opener, got the final two outs after the tying runs reached base.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Pouncing on Petit: For the second time in four Classic at-bats, Quiroz launched a home run, this one a three-run shot with two outs in the second inning off Venezuela starter Yusmeiro Petit to give Mexico a 5-0 lead. Quiroz battled back from an 0-2 count and capped a nine-pitch at-bat with the blast over the right-field wall.

Primetime Prado: On the heels of a 5-for-5 performance in Venezuela's 11-10 victory over Italy on Saturday, Prado stroked an RBI single to right-center field against Mexico starter Luis Mendoza in the third. Prado drove in another run with a fifth-inning double.

Laird leaves the yard: Laird gave Mexico additional breathing room with a three-run homer to left off Venezuela's Wil Ledezma in the fifth inning, extending the lead to 8-1. Laird, an infielder for the Yankees and Astros from 2011-13, has spent the last two seasons playing in the Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball organization, hitting 73 homers in that span for the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Roberson to the rescue: With Mexico's advantage cut from seven runs to three by the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Chris Roberson delivered a two-run infield single. Second baseman Jose Altuve dove to his left and nearly corralled the sharp grounder, but he could only knock it down in short right field.

'V' is for Venezuela -- and V-Mart: Venezuela responded yet again in the seventh, with Martinez belting a two-run homer just inside the right-field foul pole off Venezuela reliever Sergio Romo. The blast pulled Venezuela to within three runs, at 11-8.

Osuna's redemption: Three days after he was unable to close out Italy despite a four-run lead in the ninth inning, Osuna got the final two outs against Venezuela. The right-hander yielded a single to Alcides Escobar and walked Ender Inciarte, but then struck out Chirinos and got Altuve to fly out.

QUOTABLE
"The offense had a difficult time coming from behind in all the games. We received runs early, and we have been against a wall all the time. We have done a lot in order to score some runs and come back in games, and that wasn't the mentality that we had or we thought we were going to play with. With the players we have, I thought we were going to play better ball, but it has cost us because we have been coming from behind all the time." -- Venezuela manager Omar Vizquel

WHAT'S NEXT
Venezuela: A tiebreaker with Italy on Monday at 9 p.m. ET awaits Venezuela, with the winner moving on to Round 2 of the Classic, and the loser eliminated.

Yankees ride big inning to win over Braves

By Mark Bowman and Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Matt Kemp recorded one of the two RBI doubles that Michael Pineda surrendered in the first inning, but Aaron Hicks' triple fueled a six-run sixth inning that propelled the Yankees to an 8-7 win over the Braves on Thursday afternoon at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex.

Non-roster invitee Blaine Boyer's bid to win a spot in Atlanta's bullpen took a hit as he retired just one of the eight batters faced during the decisive sixth inning. Jacoby Ellsbury highlighted the uprising with a two-run single that capped his three-hit performance.

Pineda retired just one of the first four batters he faced, but then proved perfect over the remainder of his three-inning stint, which was blemished by the three hits and two runs surrendered during the first inning.

Playing in his first game since fracturing his right elbow in September, Ozzie Albies opened the bottom of the first inning with a single and then scored from first base on Johan Camargo's double. Kemp's double down the left-field line served as his second straight hit since he opened the Grapefruit League season hitless through his first 14 at-bats.

Yankees center fielder Brett Gardner opened the game with a home run off Aaron Blair, who found a groove after he got Chris Carter to ground into a double play with two on and none out in the first inning. Blair retired seven of the final 10 batters faced as he allowed one run and five hits over 2 2/3 innings.

Matt Tuiasosopo pulled Atlanta closer with a three-run home run in the sixth inning off Chasen Shreve, who was traded by the Braves to the Yankees before the 2015 season. Tuiasosopo added a two-run shot in the ninth inning off Jason Gurka.

Yankees Up Next: The Yankees are on the road Friday to visit the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla. Luis Cessa will make his second spring start for New York, with Clay Buchholz going for Philadelphia. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on MLB Network and MLB.TV.

Braves Up Next: Brandon Phillips is expected to be in the lineup when the Braves host the Mets on Friday at 1:05 p.m. ET, a game available on Gameday Audio. Lucas Sims will start in place of R.A. Dickey, who will instead pitch in a simulated game to avoid shying away from his knuckleball while making a second straight start against a division opponent. The Mets will counter with suburban Atlanta native Zack Wheeler, who will be making his debut and extending his attempt to return from Tommy John surgery.

Hughes leads Australia's rout of China

By Danny Knobler / Special to MLB.com

TOKYO -- Former Twins and A's infielder Luke Hughes drove in four runs as Australia coasted to an 11-0 win over China at Tokyo Dome. James Beresford's grand slam made it a double-digit lead in the eighth inning and meant the ninth inning wasn't played because of the tournament's early-termination rule.

Australia's win guaranteed Japan's path to the second round and also guaranteed the winner of the Australia-Cuba matchup (10 p.m. ET on Thursday) will join the Japanese in advancing. China, which will play Japan on Friday, can't advance.
Full Game Coverage

Tigers Minor League left-hander Travis Blackley, who pitched in the Major Leagues with five teams, scattered two hits over 4 2/3 scoreless innings.

Australia didn't advance past the first round in any of the first three editions of the World Baseball Classic, going 1-8 with only a win over Mexico in 2009. The Australians are 1-1 in WBC 2017, having lost to Japan on Wednesday.

Cuba has never failed to advance out of the first round.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Blackley delivers: Australia manager Jon Deeble has two pitchers with Major League experience, and he chose to start them against China and Cuba in hopes of getting the two wins needed to advance. He got the first win Thursday, with Travis Blackley pitching efficiently enough on just 48 pitches. The pitch count is crucial, because by keeping it under, 50 Blackley is eligible to return as soon as Sunday, which would be the first game of the second round.

Hughes hits it hard: Hughes hasn't played in the Major Leagues since the A's released him in July 2012. He's played the last five years with the Perth Heat in the Australian League, where he homered three times in 24 games in the just-completed season.

A name to remember?: China's starter was 21-year-old Kwon Ju, who grew up in Korea and plays for the KT Wiz in Korean baseball. He gave up three hits in three innings, including Hughes' two-run home run, but scouts suggest he could project as a back-end starter in the Major Leagues some day.

Triple threat: Deeble made a lineup change Thursday, inserting 31-year-old Trent D'Antonio in the leadoff spot. D'Antonio, who played three seasons in the Marlins' organization without making it past Class A, made the move look good with a two-run triple in the fourth inning. D'Antonio was helped by China center fielder Zhenghong Lu, who tried to dive for the ball and saw it get by him.

Spring Training Daily - 3.6.2017

Spring Training scores from 3.5.2017:

BAL 3 PHI 2
BOS 11 ATL 1
NYY 3 PIT 2
MIN 4 WSH 2
PHI 8 DET 5
HOU 7 MIA 7
TB 5 TOR 3
STL 14 NYM 11
CLE 8 SD 2
MIL 9 COL 4
CHC 9 TEX 9
LAD 7 SEA 3
KC 4 SF 3
CIN 11 LAA 3
OAK 5 SEA 4
ARI 4 CWS 1

Spring Training games scheduled for 3.6.2017:

NYY @ PIT
BAL @ DET
STL @ MIN
BOS @ HOU
NYM @ MIA
SD @ CWS
MIL @ CLE
ARI @ KC
CLE @ SF
CHC @ LAA
TEX @ SEA
LAD @ COL

Spring Training Daily - 3.5.2017

Spring Training scores from 3.4.2017:

NYY 11 DET 1
MIN 6 TOR 2
MIA 8 ATL 6
NYM 3 HOU 1
PHI 7 ATL 4
PIT 3 BOS 2
WSH 1 STL 1
BAL 1 TB 0
CWS 10 LAA 2
KC 2 SF 0
MIL7 TEX 1
CLE 15 OAK 5
CHC 9 LAD 3
CIN 9 KC 7
SD 6 ARI 5
SEA 4 COL 3

Spring Training games scheduled for 3.5.2017:

PHI @ BAL
ATL @ BOS
PIT @ NYY
MIN @ WSH
DET @ PHI
HOU @ MIA
TB @ TOR
STL @ NYM
SD @ CLE
COL @ MIL
CHC @ TEX
SEA @ LAD
KC @ SF
CIN @ LAA
OAK @ SEA
CWS @ ARI

Cards beat Nats 2-1; face each other again Saturday

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals had a pair of encouraging pitching performances during St. Louis' 2-1 victory in 10 innings Friday afternoon at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

Stephen Strasburg looked sharp in his Grapefruit League debut, tossing a pair of scoreless innings. Michael Wacha threw three scoreless innings in his second outing of the spring.

The Cards return to Roger Dean Stadium on Saturday to face the Washington Nationals in a 1:05 p.m. ET start. Lance Lynn, who allowed one run on two hits Tuesday, will be making his second spring start for St. Louis. Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez will make his second start after tossing a scoreless inning against the Mets last time out.

Bautista's two-run homer leads Blue Jays past Yankees 3-2

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Jose Bautista homered for the second time in as many games and Ryan McBroom launched a walk-off blast in the ninth inning, lifting the Toronto Blue Jays to a 3-2 Grapefruit League victory over the New York Yankees on Friday at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

Bautista started things off with a bang in the first inning against Yankees starter Luis Severino, knocking a two-run homer to right-center field. Bautista also rapped a hard single off the right-hander in his next at-bat.

Ji-Man Choi's two-run single off Jarrett Grube with one out in the ninth tied the game before McBroom cleared the left-field fence facing Joe Mantiply.

Francisco Liriano made his first start of the spring for Toronto, striking out three in two scoreless innings. The left-hander permitted two hits without a walk.

Severino allowed four hits over 2 1/3 innings, fanning four with a walk.

Next up for the Yankees is a road game on Saturday, visiting the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Fla., for a 1:05 p.m. ET contest. Michael Pineda will make his first start of the spring for New York.

For the Blue Jays, they head to Ft Myers, Fla. on Saturday to play the Minnesota Twins at 1:05 p.m. ET. Casey Lawrence will make his third appearance of the spring and his second start for Toronto.