The United States face off against Puerto Rico tonight in a second round heavyweight matchup with both teams looking to stay undefeated in Pool F play.
They will play at Petco Park in San Diego with Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman starting for the US against Mets righty Seth Lugo for Puerto Rico at 10:00 PM ET.
Lugo was phenomenal in his first World Baseball Classic start when he went 5.1 scoreless innings allowing only one hit against Venezuela in the first round.
Stroman was almost as good in his round one start vs the Dominican Republic team, hurling 4.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. The Puerto Rican team is 4-0 so far in the tournament.
The winner of the highly anticipated matchup with move to 2-0 in Pool F and for Puerto Rico would qualify them for the finals in Los Angeles. The Dominican Republic moved to 1-1 on Thursday night with a 3-0 win over now 0-2 Venezuela.
Game Notes
The U.S. and Puerto Rico have met four times in Classic history. The first two meetings were in the second round of the 2009 Classic. Puerto Rico won the first game, 11-1, but the U.S. eliminated Puerto Rico with a 6-5 victory in the second meeting to advance to the semifinals.
In the 2013 Classic, the two teams again met twice in the second round. The U.S. won the first game, 7-1, but Puerto Rico advanced to the semifinals with a 4-3 win over the U.S. three days later. Puerto Rico reached the championship game against the Dominican Republic but lost, 3-0.
You can watch tonight’s game on MLB Network or on MLB.com.
United States
- Andrew McCutchen, RF
- Adam Jones, CF
- Christian Yelich, LF
- Nolan Arenado, 3B
- Eric Hosmer, 1B
- Buster Posey, C
- Daniel Murphy, DH
- Brandon Crawford, SS
- Josh Harrison, 2B
- Marcus Stroman, P
Puerto Rico
- Angel Pagan, LF
- Francisco Lindor, SS
- Carlos Correa, 3B
- Carlos Beltran, DH
- Yadier Molina, C
- Javier Baez, 2B
- Eddie Rosario, RF
- T.J. Rivera, 1B
- Reymond Fuentes, CF
