Britain ‘hold onto the mystery’ about SP vs. Canada; Blue Jays prospect gets hit against U.S.
PHOENIX – Great Britain supervisor Drew Spencer engaged in a bit of gamesmanship after his workforce’s scrappy 6-2 loss to the powerhouse United States, declining to disclose his beginning pitcher for Sunday’s World Baseball Classic conflict towards Canada.
“Sorry, it’s a tournament,” he stated. “We’ll play with every advantage and hold onto the mystery.”
The Brits used 5 pitchers, led by starter Vance Worley who allowed two unearned runs in 2.2 innings, towards the Americans. Lefty McKenzie Mills, a starter who break up final season between unbiased ball workforce Southern Maryland and Quintana Roo in Mexico, is a risk to achieve platoon benefit over the left-leaning Canadian lineup.
Right-handers Jake Esch, Ryan Long, who allowed Kyle Schwarber’s pivotal three-run homer within the fourth, Daniel Cooper and Michael Peterson adopted Worley, conserving Britain’s choices open for Sunday.
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“We had a couple of plans and I joked around a little bit about Plan A, B and C,” stated Spencer. “We stuck with plan A, and we were in the ball game right to the end.”
Britain had eight hits, together with Trayce Thompson’s solo shot within the first, and a second-inning single by Toronto Blue Jays outfield prospect Jaden Rudd.
The 20-year-old was born in Britain the place his father Jason, an F-15 fighter pilot, was stationed earlier than shifting to Florida. In 2021, the Blue Jays picked him within the seventh spherical out of A. Crawford Mosley High School in Lynn Haven, Fla., and final yr, British coach Brad Marcelino recruited him for the Regensburg qualifying match, the place Rudd hit a game-tying homer within the ninth earlier than the additional inning rally that beat Spain and put them for the Classic.
“This was by far the most important baseball I’ve ever played,” Rudd stated of going through the U.S. “It’s the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of and the biggest stage. So it was a learning experience and it was the most fun three hours of my life.”
What did he be taught?
“Learned how to handle some nerves,” he replied. “The game was at seven o’clock, there’s a long build-up to it, so I learned how to handle that, learned how to handle the noise, the cameras, this, that and the other. I’m extremely blessed to be here and I’m trying to soak in every second of it.”
Rudd’s eventful night time additionally included monitoring down lasers by Mookie Betts within the first and Mike Trout within the third that appeared destined for the stands and hitting right into a double play off Adam Wainright within the fourth after singling off the long-time St. Louis Cardinals star.
Spencer stated Rudd additionally offered “one of my favorite moments in that whole game” within the seventh, when after being lifted for D’Shawn Knowles, “was the first guy up congratulating him” for hitting a triple. “That just shows who we are,” the supervisor added.
It’d even be instructive about Rudd, who spent final season on the Blue Jays’ complicated league workforce.
“As soon as I come out of left field, I can’t help the team in left field, I can help the team at the plate or on the bases or any other way. I can help the team win in the dugout,” he stated. “There’s something I can do to try to rile up the team to fire them up, just get them going, that’s a win and that’s the role that I play when I get taken out of the game.”
Two former Blue Jays in Britain’s lineup additionally acquired hits within the recreation – Chavez Young, the farmhand traded to the Pirates for Zach Thompson over the winter, and Darnell Sweeney, who made two appearances with the big-league workforce in 2018.
Former Blue Jays lefty Aaron Loup was added to the American workforce’s roster earlier than the sport after Brooks Raley suffered a minor hamstring pressure, however he didn’t seem within the recreation.
U.S. supervisor Mark DeRosa performed with Loup in Toronto in 2013 and “it was a pretty easy decision for me to reach out to him first and see where he was at. And he jumped at it.”
“I know Loupy, not easy to walk into this clubhouse, especially a couple of days late. I knew he could handle it,” DeRosa added. “That guy has ice-water in his veins. I knew he’d throw his bag down and assimilate perfect.”
