Venezuela went a ideal four- in extremely anticipated Pool D competitors in Miami, staying atop the standings against the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and Israel.
“That was a bear of a pool,” USA manager Mark DeRosa stated Friday. “So for them to go undefeated was fairly impressive. But no, [I’m] not shocked at all with the quantity of talent that they have on that club. We’re fired up for the chance and pleased to get on that plane to come right here.”
“It’s just a matter of time, we believed, that the U.S. would be our rival on Saturday,” Venezuela manager Omar López stated Thursday. “And every single coach individually began the preparation.”
Here’s what you will need to know about Saturday’s matchup:
When and exactly where: Saturday at 7 p.m. ET at loanDepot park in Miami.
How you can watch: The game in between USA and Venezuela will be reside on FOX. Each and every game can be streamed on the net in the FOX Sports App. For international viewing alternatives, click right here.
How you can listen: Reside audio coverage of all games will be carried on Sirius XM, TuneIn, MLB.com and in the MLB App.
What’s at stake: In a single-elimination round, the winner of this quarterfinal matchup will advance to face Cuba in the semifinals on Sunday evening. Venezuela most lately sophisticated to the semifinals in 2009 just before falling to South Korea. USA sophisticated to the semifinals in 2017 and went on to win the whole tournament against Puerto Rico.
Matchup history: USA and Venezuela met in the second round in the 2017 Planet Baseball Classic. USA rallied for a 3-run eighth inning — which includes dwelling runs by Adam Jones and Eric Hosmer — to win, four-two.
Salvador Perez, C, Venezuela: Perez was named Pool D MVP following he went five-for-ten at the plate in his 1st 3 games. He drove in 5 runs and connected for 3 doubles and a dwelling run (.500/.545/1.one hundred) through that stretch.
Mike Trout, CF, USA: Trout powered USA to a three-two victory more than Colombia on Wednesday. He went three-for-four and drove in all of USA’s runs. Trout is slashing .417/.588/.833 in his 1st 4 WBC games.