Team Puerto Rico With Your Standard Walk Off Perfect Game Against Team Israel
Bet you've never seen a Perfect Game end with a walk-off in the 8th inning! Puerto Rico just absolutely embarrassed my brothers on Team Israel. As a half-jew I love me some Team Israel but I think it's safe to say the boys were a tad overmatched tonight. Puerto Rico threw the first perfect game in World Baseball Classic history winning 10-0 on the back of Francisco Lindor going 2/3 with a triple, a walk, 3 RBIs, and a stolen base. They also had Javy Baez go 2/3 with 2 runs driven in, Kiké Hernández added 2 hits, 2 RBIs and the game winning hit, and the big dog José De León on the mound. De León struck out 10 of my Israeli brothers in just 5 2/3rds innings. Of course he was perfect in those 5 2/3rds, I don't have to mention that. No hits, no errors, no baserunners, just domination.
Only reason he got taken out was because of the pitch count limit in the WBC, player safety, we get it. It also was cool seeing Yadi come out of the dugout as the manager. Puerto Rico only needed 3 more pitchers to close out the perfecto. Quick and simple perfect game. I guess that does help when you win by a walk off mercy rule too.
Puerto Rico is a damn good team and they showed it tonight. Didn't let an inferior opponent stick around and they got right to business kicking the shit out them. I'll be honest too, I had the game on mute and forgot about the mercy rule and was very confused when they started celebrating in the 8th. But nonetheless, it's cool to see a perfect game in a huge international tournament like this on the big stage. What better way to close out a perfecto than with a walk off? This game wasn't great by any means but it gave us another interesting and fun game to watch, this WBC does keep delivering in that aspect. Been a fantastic tournament so far and will only get better.
PS. Puerto Rico vs Dominican Republic on Wednesday and it will likely be an elimination game…..give it to me!