Venezuela went an ideal 4-0 in extremely anticipated Pool D competitors in Miami, staying atop the standings in opposition to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua and Israel.
“That was a bear of a pool,” USA supervisor Mark DeRosa mentioned Friday. “So for them to go undefeated was fairly spectacular. However no, [I’m] not shocked in any respect with the quantity of expertise that they’ve on that membership. We’re fired up for the chance and blissful to get on that airplane to come back right here.”
“It is only a matter of time, we thought, that the U.S. can be our rival on Saturday,” Venezuela supervisor Omar López mentioned Thursday. “And each coach individually began the preparation.”
This is what you’ll want to learn about Saturday’s matchup:
When and the place: Saturday at 7 p.m. ET at loanDepot park in Miami.
How one can watch: The sport between USA and Venezuela shall be dwell on FOX. Each sport might be streamed on-line within the FOX Sports activities App. For worldwide viewing choices, click on right here.
How one can hear: Dwell audio protection of all video games shall be carried on Sirius XM, TuneIn, MLB.com and within the MLB App.
What’s at stake: In a single-elimination spherical, the winner of this quarterfinal matchup will advance to face Cuba within the semifinals on Sunday night time. Venezuela most lately superior to the semifinals in 2009 earlier than falling to South Korea. USA superior to the semifinals in 2017 and went on to win all the match in opposition to Puerto Rico.
Matchup historical past: USA and Venezuela met within the second spherical within the 2017 World Baseball Traditional. USA rallied for a three-run eighth inning — together with dwelling runs by Adam Jones and Eric Hosmer — to win, 4-2.
Salvador Perez, C, Venezuela: Perez was named Pool D MVP after he went 5-for-10 on the plate in his first three video games. He drove in 5 runs and related for 3 doubles and a house run (.500/.545/1.100) throughout that stretch.
Mike Trout, CF, USA: Trout powered USA to a 3-2 victory over Colombia on Wednesday. He went 3-for-4 and drove in all of USA’s runs. Trout is slashing .417/.588/.833 in his first 4 WBC video games.