Canada tops Cuba to win Pool A, advance to quarterfinals for 1st time

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Ernie Whitt walked into the postgame press conference, sat down and smiled.

“I'm very excited about it, needless to say,” Canada’s manager said. “It's been a long haul.”

Whitt has been the Canadian manager in every World Baseball Classic since the first tournament in 2006 -- and during its first five tries, his team never made it to the quarterfinal round.

After Wednesday afternoon’s win, that streak is over.

Canada clinched its first berth in the WBC quarterfinals with a 7-2 victory over Cuba in a win-or-go-home matchup at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Team Canada finished pool play with a 3-1 record and earned the top overall seed in Pool A thanks to its head-to-head win over Puerto Rico on Tuesday. Canada will play the runner-up from Pool B at Daikin Park in Houston later this week.

It’s an impressive breakthrough for the Canadians, who finished no better than ninth place in each of the five prior tournaments. Canada has already won more games this year (three) than they have in any other Classic.

As for Cuba, the island nation finishes in third place in Pool A with a 2-2 record. It’s the first time in WBC history that the Cubans did not advance past pool play.

Canada opened the scoring in the third inning against Cuban ace Liván Moinelo. Back-to-back singles from Tyler O'Neill and Abraham Toro set the stage for Marlins prospect Owen Caissie. The left-handed slugger held his own in a left-on-left matchup, ripping a fly ball to right field to plate O’Neill with a sacrifice fly.

In the fifth inning, Toro extended the lead with a solo home run off Blue Jays right-hander Yariel Rodríguez. The 420-foot blast traveled completely out of the stadium -- the longest home run seen at Bithorn this week. Justin Morneau is the only Canadian player with more extra-base hits in WBC play than Toro, who has six -- with five coming in the last week.

“Canada is definitely a country that is slept on,” Toro said at the podium. “I just think that [Canadian baseball] is going to continue to grow, and hopefully we can be an inspiration for a younger generation.”

Canada put the game out of reach in a fateful sixth inning. Bo Naylor (RBI double) and Otto Lopez (two-run single) supplied the key hits, capitalizing on several Cuba fielding miscues. In a three-batter span, second baseman Yiddi Cappe dropped a routine pop-up, Rodríguez fired a pickoff attempt up the first-base line, and Andrys Perez committed catcher’s interference. All three runs in the inning were unearned.

“Well, everybody who knows about baseball knows the errors that happen and explainable errors,” Cuban manager German Mesa said after the game. “We weren't coming in as favorites … but we did put up a fight with the team that we have. With the team that we have, we did everything possible.”

Veteran righty Cal Quantrill set the tone on the mound for Canada, mowing down Cuba’s bats. He flipped the script from his only prior WBC appearance, when he allowed three runs and recorded just two outs against Great Britain in 2023. This go-around, he hurled five innings of one-run ball.

“I felt confident with the team I had behind me,” Quantrill said. “I attacked hitters and let them play great D. Attack the zone, make them beat us. I think we played the cleaner game today.”

Canada’s bullpen did just enough to hold the lead, wiggling out of two key jams. In the sixth, Adam Macko struck out Cappe to leave the bases loaded. Then, in the seventh, retired MLB lefty James Paxton fanned Yoán Moncada, who came to the plate as the potential tying run in a three-run game. Whitt was very pleased with the performance of the man called Big Maple, whom the manager said "came off the couch" to join the team for this tournament.

“He wanted to come and come out of retirement, get off the couch, and come and throw for Team Canada because he's never done that before,” Whitt said. “He's experienced league championships and played at the highest level in Major League Baseball, but he never represented the country. I think that was the biggest thing for him.”

Now, all of them will be doing something they haven't done before. A quarterfinal matchup awaits the Canadians either Friday or Saturday, contingent on the final standings in Pool B.