Ben Verlander breaks down USA's big-time win, what to look for vs. Cuba

By Ben Verlander
Published

The 2023 World Baseball Classic featured a handful of wild games this weekend, including Team USA's jaw-dropping 9-7 win over Venezuela on Saturday night that sent the Americans to the semifinals.

Trailing Venezuela by two runs in the eighth inning, USA loaded the bases with nobody out against left-hander José Quijada. Tim Anderson drew a walk, Pete Alonso hit a pinch-hit single and J.T. Realmuto was hit by a pitch. 

Venezuela manager Omar Lopez replaced Quijada with right-hander Silvino Bracho. First up was Trea Turner, who was quickly down 0-2 against Bracho. He didn't let that phase him because on the third pitch he saw, Turner launched a grand slam to left field and erased the deficit to put the team up, 9-7, in the eighth inning. 

USA will now play Cuba in the WBC semifinals Sunday night in Miami with veteran Adam Wainwright taking the hill.

Here are some of Ben Verlander's observations from the United States' big-time victory, as well as what to watch for in the upcoming semifinal game.

Should Daniel Bard have been pulled earlier?

"I was not pleased with how that whole inning went down. … I don't fault Mark DeRosa for bringing him into the game. You wanted to get five, six innings out of Lance Lynn. That didn't happen for whatever reason. … It is completely OK to bring Daniel Bard in the game — to find an inning, to scratch away an inning, to get to the back end of the bullpen. However, Daniel Bard has a past. … Daniel Bard is one of the most prominent cases of the yips in Major League Baseball history. … Everybody that knows that story that was watching that game, the thought goes, ‘Oh no.’ … It's heartbreaking to see. He wasn't just missing the zone by couple of inches or a foot, he was missing by feet. Not even coming close. 

"We saw after the first two batters … that something's going on here, but a three-batter minimum rule does exist in this World Baseball Classic … so he had to face that next batter. He ends up hitting José Altuve, bases loaded, nobody out. Then, he stayed in for another batter. To me, that's the inexcusable mistake. That's where the inexperience of Mark DeRosa came into play, unfortunately. Mark DeRosa has never managed. In fact, nobody on the coaching staff has ever coached in the big leagues. … I adamantly disagree with that decision to keep Daniel Bard out there."

Does having time off help or hurt Cuba?

"There's a little bit of help there and a little bit of hurt. Obviously, the big help is with your pitching. You can pretty much do whatever you want with your pitching now. … Pitching-wise, having this three-day break is huge. Now, the negative being [that] they had to fly from Japan. It's not like, ‘Oh, they got three days off. That’s not fair.' No, these teams — Cuba and Japan — are flying from literally the other side of the world and need a few days to catch up on things.

"Another negative probably being hitters that are technically in spring training time who are finally probably starting to feel better at the plate [and] now have to go a few days in a row without seeing pitching again. So, it might revert them back a little bit. Team Cuba is coming in hot. They started the tournament 0-2, and everybody, including myself, declared them out. Next thing you know, they haven't lost since. They're hot. They're playing good baseball."

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