Mark DeRosa nearly cost Team USA the opportunity to advance to the knockout stage of the World Baseball Classic with some of his decisions in its loss to Italy. Now, Alex Rodriguez thinks the Team USA manager is the biggest reason why it’s playing in the final of the World Baseball Classic.
Rodriguez pointed to DeRosa as the catalyst for Team USA in its 2-1 win over the Dominican Republic in Sunday’s World Baseball Classic semifinal win.
“The one guy I want to give a shoutout to is Mark DeRosa,” Rodriguez said on the FS1 postgame show following Team USA’s win. “He has gotten absolutely hammered this week. And tonight, he made some brilliant moves — Gunnar Henderson, great defense and a big home run. And taking out Paul Skenes after 71 pitches and followed by a double play.
“Mark DeRosa pitched a gem.”
Henderson hadn’t been in the starting lineup for much of the tournament, sitting behind Bobby Witt Jr. and Alex Bregman on the left side of the infield for all but one game. However, Sunday’s game presented an opportunity for Henderson to start thanks to his strong career numbers against Dominican Republic starting pitcher Luis Severino. Henderson had gone 7 for 9 in his career against Severino with a home run, double and four RBIs against the righty entering Sunday’s game.
By the end of Henderson’s second at-bat, he had added another homer against Severino. He took Severino’s sweeper 400 feet for a home run to help Team USA tie the game against the Dominican Republic in the fourth inning.
“Playing the hot hand right?” DeRosa told reporters prior to Sunday’s game. “Gunnar’s got numbers against Severino.”
Henderson had also hit well in a limited role during the tournament, going 5 for 10 with a homer in the first four games he played. Bregman, meanwhile, had gone 2 for 11 in the four games he played in so far in the tournament.
As for DeRosa’s decisions with Skenes, starting him was a no-brainer considering that he was available to pitch Sunday’s game. However, he threaded the need on when to take him out, too.
Skenes began to face his first serious trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning, when he allowed back-to-back one-out singles to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte. Instead of having Skenes pitch to Mets’ star Juan Soto, DeRosa called on sidearm reliever Tyler Rogers to try and get out of the jam.
Rogers did that in just a matter of a few pitches. Soto grounded into an inning-ending double play, keeping Team USA’s lead at 2-1.
DeRosa seemingly pressed all the right buttons with the bullpen for the rest of the night. Griffin Jax, David Bednar, Garrett Whitlock and Mason Miller didn’t allow a run in the final four innings, with only three Dominican Republic players getting on-base.
Now, DeRosa’s USA squad is a win away from helping the program win its second World Baseball Classic. It’ll take on either Italy or Venezuela on Tuesday, with Mets’ righty Nolan McLean likely taking the mound.
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