San Juan, Puerto Rico- Mike Trout led off the game with a solo homerun for Team USA and that’s all the offence they would need as they shutout Canada 4-0. The loss puts Canada’s record at two wins and four losses (they carried over their record against teams also advancing to round two) and eliminates any hope of advancing to the semi-finals. Canada now faces Puerto Rico in their final game where a win would ensure qualifying for the 2011 Pan Am Games and 2011 World Cup.
Mike Johnson (Edmonton, AB) started for Canada and provided a gritty seven inning performance on the mound where he kept his team in the ballgame.
“I’ll tell you what, MJ (Johnson) has saved the pitching staff this tournament,” said Canadian Manager Ernie Whitt when speaking about his starters performance. “He shut down Team USA basically for seven innings and kept us in the ball game.”
After giving up a run in each of the first two innings, Johnson settled in by retiring US batters with ground balls and pop-outs. Johnson had a sting where he retired eleven of twelve batters between the second and sixth innings. His game ended after the seventh inning which saw him give up three runs on eight hits, walk nobody and strikeout three batters.
“He’s really been great for us in this tournament,” added Whitt. “He’s save our bullpen and it was just a gutsy performance.”
Canada struggled offensively, only being able to muster four hits in the game. The numbers don’t tell the whole story though as Canada did have their chances to score, proven by the seven runners they left on base throughout the game.
Canada’s best chance to score came in the fourth inning when they loaded the bases against Team USA starter Mike Montgomery. Montgomery was able to work his way out of the jam by recording a strikeout to end the threat.
“We were just not able to get that key hit,” explained Whitt when speaking about his team’s offence.
Canada also had runners on first and second base in the ninth but was unable to break the shutout bid.
Henry Mabee (Victoria, BC) relived Johnson and worked a scoreless eighth inning before giving up a solo homerun in the top if the ninth for the fourth US run.
Canada knows that they will have to put it all out on the line when they face Puerto Rico in their final game on Monday night.
“All the players know it, we have to come ready to play (tomorrow night),” said Whitt. “Hopefully Scotty (Diamond) can the throw the ball well, we have a rested bullpen but the biggest thing is we have to swing the bats.”
Notes: The game against Puerto Rico will be played Monday October 11th at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan with the first pitch scheduled for 7:30pm ET…Scott Diamond (Guelph, ON) will start for Canada on the mound…The top seven teams after round two will qualify for the 2011 Pan Am Games and the top six teams will qualify for the 2011 World Cup…Fans can receive live updates from all of Canada’s games by following Baseball Canada on Twitter…Additional tournament coverage including standings, box scores and stats can be found at: http://premundial2010.prnbt.com/ and http://www.baseballdecuba.com/panamericano2010/index.html
