GOODYEAR, AZ- It was not was the game Team Canada was looking for in their final tune-up game prior to opening the 3rd edition of the World Baseball Classic as the Cincinnati Reds pounded out 18 hits to defeat Team Canada 12-2.
“Hopefully we got it all out of the way tonight,” said Canadian Manager Ernie Whitt. “We’ll be ready to go on Friday (for the WBC opener).”
The Reds opened the scoring in the bottom of the first after Shin-Soo Choo scored on a two-out RBI single off of Canada starter Mark Hardy (Campbell River, BC).
Canada stormed right back in the top of the first as Michael Saunders (Victoria, BC) worked a two-out walk before Adam Loewen (Surrey, BC) stepped to the plate and delivered an opposite-field two-run homer over the wall in left-centre.
Loewen’s blast was all of the offence that Canada could produce on the night as the team combined for only four hits with a double coming off the bat of Taylor Green (Comox, BC) and singles from Tyson Gillies (Vancouver, BC) and Rene Tosoni (Port Coquitlam, BC).
Hardy was touched up for six runs in the home half of the second before he gave way to Trystan Magnuson (Vancouver, BC) with two gone in the inning.
The big blow in the second came off the bat of Ryan Ludwick who connected on a three-run homer to put the Reds up 7-2.
Canada did receive some solid pitching performances late in the game as Dustin Molleken threw 1 2/3 innings and gave up one run on three hits, while striking out two batters.
Newcomer RJ Swindle (Vancouver, BC) was the first Canadian pitcher to blank the Reds for an inning as he worked 1 1/3 innings and only gave up a run, while fanning one batter.
Phillippe Aumont (Gatineau, QC) tossed a scoreless eighth inning, but gave up a walk and a base-hit.
Team Canada will hold a workout at Chase Field in Phoenix tomorrow before opening the World Baseball Classic on Friday when they take on Italy at 2:30pm ET.
All of Team Canada’s games can be seen live in Canada on Sportsnet.
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