Venezuela’s roller-coaster of a World Baseball Classic campaign continued as they fell 4-2 to the United States in their first game of Pool F on Wednesday. The Venezuelans have alternated losses and wins in their first five WBC games.
The bullpen cost Venezuela against the Americans as Hector Rondon gave up three runs in the eighth inning after starter Felix Hernandez had gone 5 innings with no runs allowed.
After scoring 20 runs in two games against Mexico and Italy, the Venezuelan bats have been a bit quiet recently with just six runs and 10 hits in their last two games. That Venezuelan offense will also take a hit with the likely absence of No. 2 hitter Martin Prado, who exited the U.S. game due to a tight hamstring.
Jhoulys Chacin will get the start for Venezuela. His first appearance in this WBC did not go particularly well, as he gave up five runs, two of which were homers, and hit a batter in just 3.2 innings of relief against Puerto Rico.
For the first time since 2009, the Dominican Republic tasted defeat in the WBC as they were upset 3-1 by Puerto Rico. The single run was by far the Dominicans’ lowest offensive output of the tournament after scoring a total of 26 runs in their first three games.
However, you’d still fancy a lineup as dominant as the Dominicans’ to bounce back immediately. The Dominican Republic has never lost consecutive games in Classic history.
Despite the loss to Puerto Rico, Manny Machado was able to maintain his streak of hitting safely in all four WBC games thus far. Meanwhile, the power of Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, and Nelson Cruz at the heart of the order has the potential to hurt a Venezuelan pitching staff which has already given up some big scoring games in the tournament.
Veteran Edinson Volquez will make his second start of the tournament for the Dominicans. He gave up six hits and three runs in 3.2 innings against the US, which was enough to help the Dominicans to a 7-5 win.
Writer’s Prediction
The Dominican Republic (-240) bounces back with a 7-2 win.
