Marco Diaz gets 16 strikeouts as USA blank Colombia in Group C debut
Marco Diaz made an impressive debut at the WBSC Men's Softball World Cup, pitching USA to a 3-0 victory against Colombia on Tuesday and closing Day 1 of the Group C tournament at Devon Park - OGE Energy Field in Oklahoma City. Team USA manufactured a run in three consecutive innings to clinch the first victory of the competition.
Diaz pitched a complete game shutout in his first World Cup game in USA uniform. The 22-year-old pitcher struck out 16 opponents, while giving up two hits and three walks. The right-hander clocked 81 mph consistently with his drop ball, mixing it with a powerful rise ball in the mid-70s.
It was a good pitching exhibition from both sides, with Colombia's pitchers allowing four hits in the game. However, the US offence managed to manufacture three runs to get the win. Elkin Chinchilla worked four innings and allowed three runs on four hits, with four walks. In relief, Roman Prato pitched two perfect innings, with three strikeouts.
USA jumped ahead in the board in the second inning. They loaded the bases with one out, on back to back singles by Jeffrey Lewis and Jonathan Lynch, and a walk by Nick Mullins. Then Colombian pitcher Elkin Chinchilla struck out Tyler Johnson for the second out of the inning, but issued a base on balls to Zach Shaw on four pitches to walk-in the first run of the game.
One inning later, USA scored again. Erick Ochoa hit a lead-off single with a line-drive to right field, moved to second on a Jeffrey Lewis walk and finally scored on a two-out single by Jonathan Lynch to centre field.
In USA's fourth at-bat, Tyler Johnson scored on a grounder to second base. He walked stole second base and then reached third on a grounder by Zach Shaw. He crossed the plate on a grounder to second base by pinch-hitter Frank Kimlinger that made it 3-0.
Colombia tried a late comeback in the seventh inning, but could not score against Diaz. Jose Barrios walked with one out, and one out later Mateo Luna doubled to the left field line leaving two runners in scoring position and two outs. However, Ruber Bencomo, representing the potential tying run for Colombia, flied to first base in foul territory to end the game.
With this result, USA will play a doubleheader on Wednesday, starting against Guatemala at 16:00 local time, followed by a matchup against Netherlands at 19:00. For Colombia, their second game will be against South Africa at 13:00.