Spain finds silver lining in loss to Orioles

• The 19-7 score of Spain's loss to the Orioles on Wednesday might appear discouraging, but there were a few silver linings. After being shut out by the Pirates on Tuesday, Spain put together a few quality at-bats and managed to score seven runs against mostly Major League pitching, including Orioles rotation candidates Jake Arrieta and Zach Britton plus late-inning relievers Darren O'Day, Luis Ayala and Jim Johnson.

"We scored some runs. We got a little more rhythm at home plate. Encouraging, even though we're far away," Mazzotti said. "But time is over, and we play Friday, so we'll do our best. ... You've got to do what you've got to do. We probably need another week of games like this to get the rhythm. ... We'll just try to go as far as we can."

• While Spain's hitters were getting into a rhythm, its pitching left something to be desired. Mazzotti tried to avoid using any pitchers with Major League-affiliated teams on Wednesday, preferring to save them for the Classic, and that resulted in Baltimore running up the score.

"The problem was the pitching, but we knew about that because we were going to save our best starters," Mazzotti said. "That's why we had hard times."

Starter Richard Salazar, who spent 2012 with Sioux City of the independent American Association, gave up five runs on six hits in just 1 1/3 innings.

"It's not easy when you want to pitch too fine and you fall behind in the count and you draw walks and this and that," Mazzotti said. "That happened."

Nick Schumacher, who also played for Sioux City last year, surrendered four runs in one inning. Ricardo Hernandez and Jose Cruz of the Italian Baseball League allowed three runs apiece, and Ivan Granados, who played in Italy last season, gave up four runs while recording only two outs.