WBC Wrap: Panama takes down Canada; Mexico, DR win big

After a day of terrific baseball, we only got one close game Sunday and that one was a minor upset.

Coming up today

We have three WBC Games late this morning and early this afternoon. Please use this as a discussion thread for those three games.

11 a.m. Central: Dominican Republic vs Israel at Miami. Pitching matchup, Bello vs. Prager. TV: FS1

11 a.m. Central: Colombia vs. Panama at San Juan. Pitching matchup, Almeida vs. Espino. TV: FS2

12 noon Central: Brazil vs. Great Britain at Houston. Pitching matchup, TBD vs. TBD. TV: Tubi

Pool A (San Juan):

Cuba 7, Colombia 4

Cuba hit two home runs in the first inning and they never looked back, beating Colombia 7-4.

Colombia actually broke out to a 1-0 lead with an unearned run off of Cuba starter and Diamondbacks prospect Denny Larrondo. The run scored on a sacrifice fly by former Athletics infielder Jordan Diaz.

But Cuba roared back in the bottom of the first. Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Ariel Martínez went oppo taco with two men on to go up 3-1. [VIDEO]

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Two batters later, former Dodger Erisbel Arruebarrena snuck a home run down the left field line to make it 4-1. [VIDEO]

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Colombia cut the lead to 4-2 with another sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth. But Cuba struck back with three in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by this hit by Marlins minor leaguer Yiddi Cappe that left fielder Harold Ramírez misplayed into a two-run triple [VIDEO].

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Colombia threatened to get back in the game in the top of the seventh. The pushed across one run on a Gio Urshela single and then scored a second run when former Mariners minor leaguer Tito Polo was hit by a pitch. But Cuba summoned former A’s minor leaguer Luis Romero from the bullpen with the bases loaded and two outs. He got an easy grounder back to the mound and flipped the ball to first base to end the threat.

Cuba is now 2-0 in pool play. Colombia is 0-3 and has been eliminated from any chance to advance to the single-elimination rounds.

Panama 4, Canada 3

Panama won for the first time in three tries in the 2026 WBC with a 4-3 win over Canada.

The Cubs’ Jameson Taillon got the start in this game and pitched well, allowing just one run on two hits over 3.2 innings. The one run he allowed came in the fourth inning after he left the game with a man on first and two outs. Reliever Antoine Jean let that runner in. Taillon walked two and struck out three.

Here are some Taillon highlights [VIDEO].

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Abraham Toro, who is with the Royals this year, gave Canada a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the second inning. [VIDEO]

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After Panama tied the game in the top of the fourth, Canada retook the lead on three consecutive singles by Bo Naylor, Owen Caissie and A’s outfielder Denzel Clarke.

James Paxton, who retired after the 2024 season, came back to pitch for Canada one last time in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, his defense let him down. An error by Canadian first baseman Josh Naylor opened up a two-out, three-run rally. Panama veteran Rubén Tejada, who last played in the majors for the Mets in 2019, hit a two-run single to give Panama the lead [VIDEO].

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Enrique Banfield Jr. then bunted for a hit, scoring Miguel Amaya [VIDEO].

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Marlins teammates Owen Caissie and Otto Lopez teamed up to make this incredible play to keep Panama from scoring another run in the top of the eighth.

Caissie almost tied the game with a deep drive to center field in the bottom of the eighth, but he hit it to the deepest part of the park and it ended up as an RBI double [VIDEO]

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There was a one-hour rain delay at the start of this game and a 23-minute rain delay in the top of the ninth. When the game resumed, former Pirates pitcher Dario Agrazal came in to get the save. Josh Naylor singled with one out and stole second when Tyler O’Neill struck out. But with the tying run on second base, former Cub Jared Young struck out to end the game.

Miguel Amaya was 1 for 4 and scored on that Banfield bunt. Christian Bethancourt was briefly down injured after sliding into third base in sixth. But he eventually stayed in the game. He was 2 for 4 with a run scored.

Pool B (Houston):

Italy 7, Great Britain 4

Italy improved to 2-0 in pool play with a comfortable 7-4 win over Great Britain.

Great Britain jumped on Italy starter and Guardians minor leaguer Dylan DeLucia in the top of the first. Nate Eaton led off the top of the first with a double and the second batter, Jazz Chisholm Jr., singled. Both runners would score on wild pitches by DeLucia.

But Italy would tie the game up in the third with back-to-back home runs by Brewers minor leaguer Andrew Fischer and Diamondbacks farmhand JJ D’Orazio.

Fischer’s home run [VIDEO]

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The home run by JJ D’Orazio [VIDEO]

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Italy took the lead after scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth off of Nick Wells, who played in the independent Atlantic League last year. The first one came on an RBI single by Fischer. Then former Cub Miles Mastrobuoni doubled Fischer home. [VIDEO]

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Phillies outfielder Dante Nori drove in the third run of the inning on an infield single.

Italy’s final two runs came in the fifth inning on a “Little League home run” (a triple and an error) off the bat of White Sox infielder Sam Antonacci. [VIDEO]

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Great Britain got two runs back in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Chisholm, who later scored on a wild pitch. But that was it for scoring in the game.

Cubs farmhand BJ Murray went 0 for 3 with a walk for Great Britain.

Mexico 16 Brazil 0 (6 innings)

Mexico turned in the biggest blowout of the tournament when they put up 16 runs against Brazil, who managed just three hits over six innings before it was called on the mercy rule.

Blue Jays farmhand Eric Pardinho got the start for Brazil and he got rocked for eight runs over three innings. Four of those runs came in the first inning.

The second run of the first inning came on this double by Alejandro Kirk. [VIDEO]

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Mexico tacked on another run when Jarren Duran led off the second inning with a home run. [VIDEO]

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Mexico scored six more runs in the fourth inning. Kirk hit a three-run home run in the sixth. [VIDEO]

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Meanwhile, Mexico starter Taijuan Walker did not allow a hit over 3.1 innings, striking out three. [VIDEO]

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Pool C (Tokyo)

Korea 7, Australia 2

Korea’s win by five runs gave them a spot in the quarterfinals because of a three-way tiebreaker:

As it turned out, Korea needed every one of its runs on Monday. Because the win created a three-way tie in Pool C among Korea, Australia and Chinese Taipei, the run quotient tiebreaker went into effect, awarding Korea a trip to the quarterfinals based on its number of runs scored and defensive outs collected. In other words, had Korea won by fewer than five runs in nine innings, Australia would’ve advanced despite the loss.

Tough loss for Australia, as Korea scored a run in the ninth inning for that five-run win. Otherwise Australia would have headed to the quarterfinals. Korea will play the winner of Pool D on Friday.

For Korea, Bo Gyeong Moon had four RBI and this two-run homer:

Here’s the sacrifice fly that gave Korea their final, tie-breaking run [VIDEO].

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Pool D (Miami)

Dominican Republic 12, Netherlands 1 (7 innings)

The Dominican Republic had no problem with the Netherlands, winning 12-1 in a game that ended early on the mercy rule. Technically this game ended on a walk-off home run by Juan Soto.

Arij Fransen, who pitched in the Reds minor league system last year and is currently a free agent, started for the Netherlands and promptly gave up two runs. The first came off of an RBI single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the second one was the result of an error by shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

The Netherlands only run came in the second inning on a home run by Didi Gregorius. [VIDEO]

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Luis Severino started for the Dominicans and got the win, allowing just one run on three hits over four innings. Severino struck out five and walked no one.

Guerrero extended the Dominican lead to 4-1 with a two-run home run in the third [VIDEO]

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The game turned into a rout when the Dominicans scored six runs in the fifth inning, most of which came off of Netherlands reliever Wendell Floranus, who pitched in the Orioles system from 2012 to 2015 and has been in the Mexican League ever since. Junior Caminero and Austin Wells each hit two-run home runs for the DR in the fifth.

Here’s every run scored in the fifth inning by the Dominican Republic [VIDEO]

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Finally, we have that technical walk-off home run by Juan Soto [VIDEO], as the blast increased the Dominican lead to 11 runs, which brought about the mercy rule.

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Israel 5 Nicaragua 0

Five pitchers combined to complete a two-hit shutout as Israel won for the first time in this tournament, 5-0 over Nicaragua.

Dean Kremer made the start for Israel and allowed just two hits over 4.1 innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Here are Kremer’s four strikeouts [VIDEO].

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Israel took a 1-0 lead when Cardinals farmhand Noah Mendlinger singled home Rockies prospect Cole Carrigg. They took a commanding lead in the fifth when the scored four runs on singles by Harrison Bader, Cardinals minor leaguer Zach Levenson and Carrigg.

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