Mets’ Edwin Díaz hurts knee as Puerto Rico tops Dominicans in WBC
MIAMI — New York Mets star closer Edwin Díaz injured his right knee celebrating a win Wednesday night that advanced Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and eliminated the Dominican Republic.
Díaz was taken off the field in a wheelchair in Miami soon after pitching a perfect ninth inning to close out Puerto Rico’s 5-2 win over the Dominicans.
The Mets later tweeted that Díaz injured his knee and would undergo further tests Thursday.
The Puerto Rican players were jumping together in the infield when Díaz collapsed to the ground, and he quickly reached for his right leg. Díaz was in tears and did not put any weight on the leg.
Díaz’s brother, Cincinnati pitcher Alexis Díaz, was also crying as Edwin was taken away. Mets teammate and Puerto Rico shortstop Francisco Lindor stood nearby with his hands on his head.
Christian Vázquez homered in a four-run third inning as Puerto Rico advanced to the WBC quarterfinals to face the winner of Pool C on Saturday in Miami.
It’s just the second time ever that Dominican Republic didn’t make it past the first round (2009).
After Vázquez’s solo homer off starter Johnny Cueto, Vimael Machin, Martin Maldonado, Francisco Lindor and Kiké Hernandez hit four straight singles to make it 3-0. MJ Melendez then grounded out on a play that allowed Lindor to score.
Cueto took the loss and was lifted before the end of the third after allowing four hits, three runs and striking out two.
Juan Soto made it 4-1 when he homered to deep center field — 448 feet — off Puerto Rico reliever Jovani Moran for his second home run of the tournament.
Soto finished the tournament 6-for-15 with three doubles and three RBIs.
Puerto Rico capped a dominant pool round in which it blanked Israel in a perfect 10-0 win Monday night.
UNITED STATES 3, COLOMBIA 2
PHOENIX — Mike Trout had three hits and three RBIs, and the United States used a stellar night from its deep bullpen to beat Colombia 3-2 and advance to the quarterfinals.
Mexico and the U.S. both finished with a 3-1 record in Group C to advance. Mexico gets the top seed because it beat the U.S. 11-5 on Sunday.
Trout singled in the third, bringing home Mookie Betts and giving the U.S. a 1-0 lead. Colombia bounced back quickly, taking a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third on Gio Urshela’s sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Reynaldo Rodriguez.
Trout put the Americans ahead again in the fifth with a two-run single that scored Betts and Will Smith.
Merrill Kelly gave up two runs in three innings for the Americans. Kelly then gave way to a parade of hard throwing bullpen arms: Kendall Graveman, Daniel Bard, David Bednar, Jason Adam, Devin Williams and Ryan Pressly each threw a scoreless inning to finish the win.
Colombia started the tournament with an upset win over Mexico, but then lost three straight to Canada, Britain and the U.S.
A crowd of 29,856 at Chase Field watched the game.
CUBA 4, AUSTRALIA 3
TOKYO — Cuba earned a 7,500-mile flight to Miami for a trip to the WBC semifinals for the first time since 2006.
Alfredo Despaigne hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly and Yoelkis Guibert followed with a two-run single in three-run fifth inning.
Using current major leaguers for the first time at the WBC, Cuba plays on Sunday in Marlins Park against the winner of a quarterfinal between Venezuela and the second-place team from Group C: Canada, Colombia, Mexico or the U.S.
Former Philadelphia Phillies prospect Rixon Wingrove, who led Australia with seven RBIs in the tournament, hit a go-ahead RBI sngle in the second and had a two-run homer in the sixth off the Chicago Cubs’ Roenis Elías. Australia got two on later in the sixth before Elías retired Milwaukee Brewers prospect Alex Hall on a flyout.
Elías pitched a perfect seventh, Liván Moinelo worked around a pair of walks in a hitless eighth by striking out Ulrich Bojarski and retiring Tim Kennelly on an inning-ending flyout. Raidel Martinez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save, striking out Darryl George on the eighth pitch of the at-bat for the final out.
Before a crowd of 35,061 at the Tokyo Dome, Luis Robert tied the score for Cuba with a run-scoring groundout in the third.
Cuba, which lost the 2006 final to Japan, had been eliminated in the second round of the previous three WBCs. The Cubans won their third straight game in this tournament after losing their first two.
Australia advanced past the group stage for the first time.
Yoán Moncada of the Chicago White Sox had two hits and two walks, and is hitting .421 wth five RBIs. Moncada sparked the third with a one-out double off Mitch Neunborn, who had walked Roel Santos leading off.
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