U.S. shows its muscle, will face the Dominican Republic

Gio Gonzalez gave Team USA its best start yet, and David Wright provided a big finish.

Gonzalez pitched five scoreless innings and the Americans beat Puerto Rico 7-1 in the World Baseball Classic on Tuesday night.
Wright drove in five runs, the last three with a bases-loaded double in the eighth. That prompted chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” from the crowd of 32,872.
The United States fell behind in all three games in the opening round, but led from the first inning against Puerto Rico. The Americans will play Thursday night against the Dominican Republic, which remained unbeaten in the WBC by rallying past Italy 5-4 on Tuesday.

Puerto Rico played Italy in an elimination game Wednesday.
Gonzalez (1-0), who grew up in nearby Hialeah, struck out five for the hometown team and departed with a 3-0 lead. Manager Joe Torre then went to his bullpen, and five relievers combined to allow one run over the final four innings.
Gonzalez lowered the ERA of the U.S. rotation to 4.00.
Wright had an RBI groundout in the third and a run-scoring single in the fifth. He’s 7 for 16 (.438) with 10 RBI in four games.
Joe Mauer’s two-out RBI double scored Ryan Braun with the first U.S. run in the opening inning. The Americans added a run in the third on singles by Brandon Phillips and Braun and Wright’s RBI groundout.
Adam Jones had a two-run RBI single in the seventh.
Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton earned a big cheer from the Miami crowd when he made a running catch at the warning track to rob Martin Maldonado of a two-out, two-RBI hit in the fourth inning. Stanton also singled twice and walked.
Braun and Mauer each reached base four times.
Puerto Rico starter Mario Santiago (0-1) allowed three runs in 4 1-3 innings. Angel Pagan’s drove in Puerto Rico’s run in the eighth.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 5, ITALY 4: Nelson Cruz’s two-out RBI single broke a seventh-inning tie, and the Dominican Republic overcame an early four-run deficit to beat Italy 5-4 Tuesday in the World Baseball Classic.
The Dominicans (4-0) remained unbeaten and advanced to a winner’s-bracket game Thursday night in the double-elimination second round.
Robinson Cano had three hits, including his second homer of the WBC with a drive off the upper-deck facade in right field. Jose Reyes also homered for the Dominican Republic.
Chris Colabello hit a three-run homer, his second, to give Italy a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

Cabrera homers in return from WBC

Miguel Cabrera homered on the first pitch he saw since returning from the World Baseball Classic and the Detroit Tigers beat Florida Southern 11-0 on Wednesday.
Cabrera, who batted .333 with a homer for Venezuela in the WBC, arrived in camp on Tuesday and connected in his only at-bat against the Division II school.
Anibal Sanchez struck out six in four hitless innings for the Tigers in his first outing since Venezuela was eliminated in the first round of the tournament.
Max Scherzer started and pitched four scoreless innings, striking out seven. He hasn’t allowed a run in 8 2-3 this spring.
dailyrecord