USA vs. Colombia live score, updates, highlights from 2023 World Baseball Classic game

By | March 15, 2023
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Pool C of the 2023 World Baseball Classic has come down to the final game, with the United States effectively needing to win to advance.

Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly will take the mound in his home stadium for the USA on Wednesday night against Colombia, which is going with Luis De Avila.

USA WBC COVERAGE: vs. Great Britain | Mexico | Canada

The vaunted USA offense finally lived up to the hype against Canada on Monday, putting up nine runs in the first inning en route to a 12-1 victory. The game was stopped after 6 1/2 innings because of the WBC mercy rule.

MORE: Watch the World Baseball Classic live on fuboTV (free trial)

The Pool C standings heading into this game have Mexico on top at 3-1, with the United States at 2-1, half a game ahead of Canada and a full game ahead of Colombia. If Colombia beats the United States, Pool C would enter into a three-way tie.

Team W-L
Mexico 3-1
USA 2-1
Canada 2-2
Colombia 1-2
Great Britain 1-3

The U.S. is trying to make the knockout stage for the fifth time in as many WBC editions, dating to 2006. An American loss would make the three second-place teams all 1-1 against each other; that would bring into play the next tiebreaker, runs allowed per out recorded. Team USA is 0.003 runs better than Colombia in that department. If the United States loses Wednesday, it would lose that tiebreaker and be eliminated from the tournament.

MORE: World Baseball Classic daily TV schedule, bracket, results

In short, it’s effectively win or go home for the United States on Wednesday. The Sporting News will provide live updates and highlights of the matchup in Phoenix.

USA vs. Colombia score

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 F
USA 0 0 1 0 2 0 – – – –
Colombia 0 0 2 0 0 – – – – –

USA vs. Colombia live updates, highlights from World Baseball Classic

(All times Eastern)

12:14 p.m. — Schwarber grounds into a 4-6-3 double play against Yapson Gomez, ending the inning and giving Colombia manager Cabrera options in the bullpen. The USA lead remains slim.

12:08 a.m. — Alonso makes good contact there, yanking it to short but just to the wrong part of the field. Arenado retreats to first, Schwarber is up next, and Colombia goes back to the pen.

12:06 a.m. — Arenado drives one the other way for a leadoff hit, bringing Alonso up still looking for his first hit of the tournament.

12:02 a.m. — Bard gets Urshela swinging, and that’s the inning. Nolan Arenado will lead off for the United States with Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber due up after.

12:01 a.m. — Despite the rocky start, Bard has the bases clear with two outs. He’s 1-2 on Urshela looking for a clean inning.

11:59 p.m. — The throw was there well before Mercado got in, and it looked like Anderson got the tag on him. Tough call, but this one is overturned.

11:58 p.m. — Ramirez just missed that pitch from Bard. He makes good contact but it’s fielded easily by Schwarber in left. Urshela comes up with one on and one out. Mercado swiped second and the call was safe, and we might well get a review here.

11:56 p.m. — Bard leads the inning off with a walk to Mercado. Team USA thought Mercado went on the pitch, but the ruling is he didn’t. Colombia has the leadoff man on.

11:54 p.m. — Daniel Bard is on the mound for the United States, as he sees the top of the Colombia order with Mercado.

11:50 p.m. — The top of the order finally looks like what we expected. Trout smokes one to left and this time, Smith and Betts both score as the throw it cut off. Goldschmidt grounds into a double play on the next pitch (5-4-3), but the United States leaves the inning with the lead 3-2.

11:46 p.m. — Betts showcases what makes him so good. He scorched one into left and Smith got the stop sign at third. The throw from left was offline and high, and Betts swipes second, giving Trout a golden opportunity here. Colombia is going to make a pitching change as Galindo just got in too deep.

11:44 p.m. — Galindo throws a great pitch down and in and gets Turner swinging for the first out of the inning. Now he’ll have to get through Betts and Trout to strand Smith at second.

11:43 p.m. — Alfaro did a good job keeping that last pitch in front of him, but it ricochets too far and Smith swipes second. It’s 1-2 with nobody out and a runner in scoring position.

11:43 p.m. — Smith draws a leadoff walk, bringing Phillies shortstop Trea Turner up with a man on and nobody out. He’s looking to turn the order over to Betts with a huge opportunity.

11:40 p.m. — Will Smith is up against Galindo, as Colombia continues to roll through pitchers trying to keep this order off-balance. Galindo falls down 2-0 early in the count.

11:38 p.m. — USA gets out of the inning unscathed with a Kendall Graveman pickoff at first after almost turning a double play. 

11:31 p.m. — Romero strikes out the side as he gets Anderson waving on a pitch darting way. Huge inning there for Colombia after capturing the lead.

11:29 p.m. — Now Schwarber goes down for the second out of the inning, bringing up Anderson with two out. DeRosa is hitting a point where he’ll have to get creative with this USA lineup. It simply isn’t producing.

11:27 p.m. — Alonso strikes out, bringing Schwarber up with one out.

11:25 p.m. — Alonso is now up for the United States, with Schwarber to follow. Romero is on the mound for Colombia looking to preserve this lead.

11:22 p.m. — Viloria put a charge in one to right center, but Trout tracks it down for the third out. Some damage is done. Now it’s on the USA bats to wake up.

11:18 p.m. — After Alfaro gets on via walk, Rodriguez drives him in with a full count and gives Colombia the lead! Kelly’s 56th pitch is a big one, as Rodriguez doubles off the wall and puts Team USA down.

11:13 p.m. — Colombia ties it up on a sacrifice fly from Urshela. Trout did everything he could to get the throw in in time, but Mercado scores to make it 1-1.

11:11 p.m. — Ramírez grounds out to second for the 4-3 putaway and advances Mercado to third. That brings up Urshela, still looking for his first hit.

11:09 p.m. — Goldschmidt has been an impossible out this WBC, and he draws another walk. Arenado, however, pops out to get Colombia out of the inning. Kelly is back out with 40 pitches, and he gives up a leadoff double to Mercado.

11 p.m. — Betts advanced on a wild pitch and Trout goes the other way to drive Betts in. This is the most effective the USA top of the order has looked all WBC, and it’s coming at a great time.

10:57 p.m. — Betts puts a good swing on and goes the other way for a base hit to bring up Trout, who tripled in the first. He’s looking to give USA a bit of two-out momentum here against Florez, who is at 21 pitches.

10:55 p.m. — Betts yanked Florez’s pitch inside and had home run distance but it went foul. The count is now full with two outs.

10:54 p.m. — Will Smith goes down swinging at the hands of Florez to start the inning for the United States, and Trea Turner nearly took one to the head to work the count to 2-0. He drove the next pitch into left, but Marriaga makes a great sliding catch to scoop one off the grass for the second out.

10:48 p.m. — Big-time pitching here from Kelly, as he induces a groundout to Goldschmidt to get out of the inning and hold Colombia scoreless after a big threat.

10:45 p.m. — Shades of Brady Singer’s outing from Kelly, who is having some control issues. The United States is hoping this one plays out differently, as his 2-2 pitch to Pertuz draws a popout to first for the second out.

10:44 p.m. — Marriaga is walked on by Kelly, so it’s bases loaded and one out. Kelly is DeRosa is going to stick with Kelly on the mound. Fabian Pertuz is up now looking to Colombia an early lead.

10:40 p.m. — Back here in the bottom of the second inning, Colombia has two on with one out and Kelly trying to work up with it. Jesus Marriaga is up for his third WBC at-bat, and it’s a consequential one.

10:20 p.m. — Urshela looked like he might have had his first hit of the WBC with a ground ball up the middle, but a well-positioned Tim Anderson stabs it backhanded and tosses him out at first. Quick inning for Kelly, who came back from 3-0 down against Urshela.

10:17 p.m. — Merrill Kelly gets Mercado first pitch swinging to fly out to Trout in center, and three pitches later Ramírez flies out to Trout as well. Urshela is up trying to keep the inning alive for Colombia.

10:14 p.m. — What a play by Colombia! Arenado gets a taste of his own medicine as a well-hit ball down the third-base line is picked and turned around the horn for a 5-4-3 double play. Clutch play by Colombia to get out of the inning unscathed.

10:13 p.m. — Goldschmidt draws a walk after getting ahead 3-1 against De Avila, bringing up his Cardinals teammate Nolan Arenado with runners at the corners and one out.

10:12 p.m. — Trout finds the alley the other way and it takes a bounce allowing him to get to third on a one-out triple! Trout gets into third standings, and Paul Goldschmidt has a golden RBI opportunity here in the first.

10:09 p.m. — Betts puts a good swing on the second pitch of the game, but it’s directly to left for the first out of the inning. One out on good contact. Mike Trout steps up next against De Avila.

10:04 p.m. — First pitch is on the other side of the break! The winner of this game is very likely to go on to play Venezuela, barring some crazy circumstances that could give Canada a chance.

9:50 p.m. — Team USA brought out some big bats for this game, with Arenado-Alonso-Schwarber making up the 4-5-6 part of the order. Colombia, meanwhile, is hoping Gio Urshela and Jorge Alfaro can get their bats going to set up the hot Reynaldo Rodriguez in the five-hole.

9:30 p.m. — The United States have effectively found themselves in a win or go home scenario against Colombia here in the World Baseball Classic. Will they join Mexico in Miami out of Group C? Hitting coach Ken Griffey Jr. is locked in for the job at hand in Chase Field.

USA vs. Colombia start time

  • Start time: 10 p.m. ET

Colombia and the United States will begin at 10 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. local time in Arizona.

They’ll be playing at Chase Field, home of MLB’s Diamondbacks.

How to watch USA vs. Colombia in World Baseball Classic

  • TV channel: FS1
  • Live stream: FoxSports.com, fuboTV

The Fox family of networks is televising the World Baseball Classic, and the United States will be on FS1 for this game. 

The game can be streamed via FoxSports.com or fuboTV, which offers a free trial.

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