The USA defeated Puerto Rico 7-1 in the second round of the World Baseball Classic to make it three consecutive victories in the tournament. With the win, the USA guaranteed that they get a day off, which is great for David Wright, who put on a show with a huge offensive night.
Wright finished the game 2-5 with five RBI. He put the game completely out of reach with a three-run double that cleared the bases and had Angel Pagan stumbling in center field as he could not reach for the baseball to make the out.
The night was so big they were comparing Wright's night to historic occurrences in the short span of the WBC. Ken Griffey Jr. drove in seven in a game in 2006 against South Africa for the most in a single game. Wright came close to matching that total with a five RBI night. His big double game the U.S. a 7-1 lead.
He just seems to continuously step up big when the bases are loaded as nine of his 10 RBI in the tournament have now been with the bases loaded. He drove one in with a force out in the bottom of the third and the struck again singling with the bases loaded and driving in one. In his final at-bat he got the biggest hit of the night that gave USA their biggest lead.
Gio Gonzalez has to be given credit in the victory after pitching five innings of three-hit baseball with five strikeouts. It was an almost perfect outing for Gonzalez, who hadn't pitched in the WBC so far for the U.S.
As far as Puerto Rico's team, they struggled at the plate and couldn't get runs against American pitching, as the scoreboard shows. Pagan drove in the only Puerto Rican run with an RBI groundout in the top of the eighth right before the U.S. extended their lead.
Team USA will have the day off and they will face the Dominican Republic on Thursday, while Puerto Rico will have face Italy in an already elimination game.
