It was a tough night offensively for Team USA in Tuesday night’s World Baseball Classic Championship game.
Going up against Venezuela, the high-powered USA lineup just did not show up in their 3-2 loss, and that includes Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.
Judge, who was captain of this iteration of Team USA, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. However, it was not just Judge’s results that were disappointing for Team USA, but the timing.
In the first, Judge struck out looking on a questionable third-strike call to end the inning. He struck out swinging in his second at-bat with the bases empty and Team USA down 1-0.
Judge’s third at-bat saw the two-time AL MVP come up as the tying run. Team USA was down 2-0 and they had a runner on first base with two outs. Judge grounded out to third base to end the inning.
“Surprised because of the names on the back,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa answered when asked if he was surprised by his team’s lack of offense. “Not surprised because where they’re at at spring training… That’s my answer. I don’t really have a rhyme or reason as to why. You’re either hot or not in a seven-game blast like this.”
“They made their pitches, worked the corners on both sides. When we did get a pitch we either popped it up or hit it on the ground. Stuff like that can’t happen,” Judge said. “When you get a pitch to hit, you have to be able to drive. Even if you get one pitch in a game, you got to do something with it. They executed their pitches and their gameplan. And we just couldn’t get rolling offensively.”
Judge wasn’t the only superstar who had a bad offensive night. Venezuela starter Eduardo Rodriguez allowed just two baserunners (one hit and one walk) in his 4.1 innings pitched, and Team USA never had a runner get into scoring position once. Even when Bryce Harper tied the game in the eighth with a two-run bomb, it was with a runner on first base.
After the homer, Judge came up for his fourth at-bat as the potential go-ahead run. Judge was called out on strikes to end the eighth, in what would be his final AB.
“Pitching wins championships,” Harper said of the lack of offense. “Roddy threw the ball great tonight, kept everyone off balance. I was happy when they took him out of the game…sometimes that’s going to happen, that’s part of the game, that’s part of baseball. Pitching wins, they had timely hitting tonight and they made things happen.”
In total, Team USA had three hits and Harper had two of them. The other came from Brice Turang in the third inning.
Three of Team USA’s top four batters (Bobby Witt Jr., Judge and Kyle Schwarber) combined to go 0-for-10 with two walks and six strikeouts. DeRosa credited Venezuela’s pitching for keeping Team USA’s bats at bay, but the manager said his team’s lack of baserunners just allowed Venezuela to keep the momentum for most of the game.
“We didn’t put any pressure on them offensively,” DeRosa said of the game. “There was a passed ball there early, they got a sac fly, grabbed the lead and keep the fans involved. It wasn’t a mistake on our end. We just never put any pressure on them.”
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