World Baseball Classic Win For Puerto Rico Against Spain

World Baseball Classic Win For Puerto Rico Against Spain

The solid pitching Hiram Burgos and Giancarlo Alvarado allowed Puerto to win against Spain, 3-0, at the World Baseball Classic.

The two players played around eight innings, as the erratic play of Sergio Perez was exploited by Puerto Rico. The Spaniard gave up four walks and three hits as well as hitting two batters. The first inning saw Puerto Rico scoring three runs before the relievers kept Spain at bay until the end of the game.

The win allowed Puerto Rico to save its pride as well as improve its chances in reaching the second round. However, the solid performance of Spain gave it a good amount of respect from its opponent at the World Baseball Classic.

The crowd of nearly 15,000 fans livened up after it seemed that Puerto Rico was going to rout Spain in the game. However, the fervor subsided after the host team had the bases loaded during the first two innings. Observers hinted at a significant increase in the noise level during the games over the weekend.

An interesting fact that can be noted is that all but one player in the roster of Spain were not born in Spain. The only player who was born in Spain in the country’s roster for the World Baseball Classic is Eric Gonzales. Eleven players of the Spanish team came from Venezuela while six were born in Cuba.

Puerto Rico is set to play against Venezuela on Sunday. It will also go up against the Dominican Republic in the following day. It will be a game against longtime rivals in the sport. The Dominican Republic is set to play against Spain before it goes up against Puerto Rico at the World Baseball Classic.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Sunday March 10 2013, 1:21 AM EST. Ref: USA Today. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0