A pair of Phillies – one a well-established veteran pitcher, the other a young first outfield prospect – did their jobs well Wednesday night to help Team Italia to a win over Mexico 9-1. The win means that Italy and the United States graduate out of pool play and into the “Knockout Round.” After their loss the other night, Team USA needed either a win by Italy or if Mexico won, for them to score five or more runs. Any other outcomes would have eliminated the United States from the World Baseball Classic in the first round.
Aaron Nola showed no signs of the struggles that afflicted him last season as he gave Italy 5 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 walk and striking out 5 batters in the game, the third time he has pitched this spring. Nola threw 69 pitches, 45 of them for strikes and collected the win. This spring has been a good one for Nola so far. In a spring start for the Phillies, the right-hander threw two innings, gave up two hits, one earned run, no walks, and struck out two hitters.
One of the concerns from last season was that his velocity had been down, but that appears to have rebounded nicely this spring. He has already thrown some pitches harder than he did all of last season with the Phillies.
If Nola is back to some semblance of the old Aaron Nola, it would be a boost to the Phillies chances this season. It’s not likely that he will pitch again for Team Italy during the WBC.
Meanwhile, Dante Nori, who hit two home runs in the WBC opener for Israel has continued to hit, although not for the power that he showed in the opener. Nori is hitting .500 (6-12) in the WBC with a double, two home runs and two walks while not striking out. Nori has an on-base percentage of .583, has slugged 1.083 for an OPS of 1.616 in the tournament.
The offense is a turnaround from how he started this spring with the Phillies. The 21-year-old was 2-11 (.182) with a double and a run scored to go with two strikeouts. His full slash line was: .182/.182/.273/.455 through seven games.
Nori played 109 games at Clearwater last season, added 11 more with Jersey Shore and finished with Reading where he played five games. The end result was four home runs with 47 RBI and 52 stolen bases to go with a line of: .261/.361/.372/.733 between the three stops.
It will be interesting to see where the Phillies start Nori this season in the minors. With just 11 games with Jersey Shore, he could return there or the Phillies may challenge him and start his season at Double-A Reading.
Obviously, the Phillies will take into account his performance in the WBC and he will have more opportunities when he returns to the Phillies camp after the tournament.
The big star of the night was Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinny Pasquantino who homered three times for Italy. All three of the home runs were solo shots. The 28-year-old was 0-12 coming into last night’s game. His three hits give him a .188 average in the tournament. He also has a .350 on-base percentage and a .750 slugging percentage.
There are no WBC games scheduled for today. Team USA returns Friday night when they play Canada and Italy plays Saturday afternoon against Puerto Rico.
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