The Dominican Republic is glad Hiroki Kuroda decided to sit out the World Baseball Classic. He’s the only pitcher with any luck slowing their offense the last two days.
Kuroda, a native of Japan, struck out four in three scoreless innings Wednesday, but the Dominican Republic scored in every frame afterwards on its way to an 8-2 win over the Yankees.
The Dominican team has total 23 runs and 39 hits in the 15 innings not pitched by Kuroda the last two days.
Leading the Dominican offense today was supposed weak link Ricardo Nanita. Starting in left field with Jose Bautista absent from the roster, Nanita went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored in this one.
Nanita and Moises Sierra, both Blue Jays players oddly enough, will likely platoon in left field for the Dominican team in the WBC. Nanita, a left-handed hitter, batted .306/.353/.465 at offense-heavy Triple-A Las Vegas last season. Sierra, a right-hander, hit .289/.360/.472 in 377 at-bats for Las Vegas and .224/.274/.374 in 147 at-bats in the majors. Neither was considered a candidate to make the Blue Jays this spring.
Jose Reyes, Edwin Encarnacion and Carlos Santana (finally a non-Blue Jay) all had two hits apiece for the Dominican Republic today. Yankees farmhand Vidal Nuno was the starting pitcher after being loaned to the Dominican Republic for the day. He pitched four hitless innings in what was essentially an intrasquad game for him.
Dominican second baseman Robinson Cano went 1-for-3 with an RBI while facing his Yankees teammates today.