Italy pulled off a stunning 8-6 upset over the United States in the World Baseball Classic, leaving the star-studded hosts facing possible elimination from the tournament.
Italy — whose team is made up mostly of American players with Italian heritage — roared into an 8-0 lead after home runs from catcher Kyle Teel, shortstop Sam Antonacci and outfielder Jac Caglianone.
The US rallied in the late innings to set up a nervy finale, but Italy held on to seal a famous win in Houston.
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The result means the USA, one of the favourites for the tournament with a team packed with Major League Baseball stars, are now sweating on the outcome of Italy’s final Pool B game against Mexico on Wednesday.
A win for unbeaten Italy in that game would see them advance to the last eight along with the United States.
If Mexico beat Italy, three teams will finish the group with a 3-1 record, meaning a complicated tiebreaker system based on runs allowed per defensive out among the tied teams will determine who advances.
In a further twist, USA manager Mark DeRosa had started the day believing his team had already reached the quarter-finals following Monday’s win over Mexico.
He admitted later that he had misunderstood the qualification scenarios.
“I misspoke,” DeRosa said. “I completely misread the calculations.”
Italy’s starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen laid the foundation for the upset, muzzling the USA’s fearsome batting lineup through four scoreless innings.
At the plate, Italy’s sluggers soon began attacking the US pitching, with Teel opening the scoring with a solo home run off Nolan McLean in the second inning.
That was followed by Antonacci’s two-run homer to make it 3-0, and the Italians then tacked on again in the fourth with Caglianone’s two-run shot making it 5-0.
Three more runs followed in the sixth inning to leave Italy sitting on an 8-0 advantage.
The USA gradually began to fire up in the sixth, with Baltimore Orioles slugger Gunnar Henderson’s solo shot making it 8-1, before Pete Crow-Armstrong’s three-run shot cut the lead to 8-4.
The US added another run in the eighth and Crow-Armstrong homered again in the bottom of the ninth to make it 8-6, before the US rally stalled, with captain Aaron Judge striking out to Greg Weissert to end the game.
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