Gio Gonzalez cruised through five innings of shutout baseball, allowing just three hits, while striking out five David Wright backed up the effort with five RBI and Team USA beat Puerto Rico 7-1 in the World Baseball Classic in Miami. Jeremy Affeldt and Vinnie Pestano each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
Team USA started the scoring early when Joe Mauer doubled in Ryan Braun in the first inning. Braun had reached on a walk. David Wright gave the USA and 2-0 lead with a fielder’s choice to score Brandon Phillips in the third. Wright now has 10 RBI for Team USA in the tournament.
Team USA loaded the bases in the fifth inning and scored only one run when Wright singled to score Jimmy Rollins to take a 3-0 lead. Adam Jones singled to center scoring Eric Hosmer who reached on infield single earlier in the inning and moved to second on a stolen base.
Puerto Rico struck back in the eighth inning when Angel Pagan grounded out scoring Jesus Felicano to make it 4-1. David Fernandez relieved Steve Cishek and retired the side to avoid any more damage. USA answered with three runs of their own with a base clearing double by Wright making the score 7-1. Craig Kimbrel came on teh 9th to nail down the win.
The USA will now take on the Dominican Republic in a winners bracket game on Thursday.
