2023 World Baseball Classic: Team USA’s Lance Lynn to start vs. Venezuela in win-or-go-home quarterfinal game

The 2023 Baseball World Cup has entered the single elimination phase and Team USA will play Venezuela in the quarter-finals on Saturday. The winner advances to the semi-finals to face Cuba, while the loser goes home. Here’s How You Can Watch USA vs. Venezuela.

Team USA will start Chicago White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn against Venezuela, the team announced Friday. Lynn was the most effective U.S. starting pitcher in the first round, dropping just one home run in five innings against Canada before reaching the WBC pitching limit of 65 innings during pool play.

“I know crime broke out – I loved it, I loved everyone who contributed – but for me, this story was what Lance was capable of. Dot”. US manager Mark DeRosa told MLB.com following the club’s 12–1 victory over Canada under the mercy rule.

DeRosa and the US do not remain in the rotation. Louis Cardinals right hander Adam Wainwright started the first WBC game in the US last week when Lynn won game 2. Wainwright only allowed one run in four innings against Great Britain, although he worked all the time and didn’t have a good spring training with St. Louis. before WBC. This spring, his speed was mostly at the level of the mid-80s.

It’s unclear how Wainwright will be used until the end of the WBC. The US used kickoffs in its first three WBC games, but with the pitching limit increased to 80 in the second round, this allows for a more traditional “starter and pitchers” approach. In addition, the stakes are now much higher in the single-elimination format. In the first round there was more room for error.

Lynn was the best starter in the US in the first round and has the best starting pitcher in the lineup, so he’ll get the ball against a strong Venezuelan team that went 4-0 in the first round. Venezuela was only three innings behind in four games, and never more than one run behind. The line-up includes Ronald Acuña Jr., Jose Altuve, Salvador Perez and other stars.

With the White Sox last season, Lynn, 36 in May, threw 121 2/3 innings with a 3.99 ERA around a knee injury. Other US starting pitching candidates include Wainwright, Kyle Freeland (Colorado Rockies), Merrill Kelly (Arizona Diamondbacks), Nick Martinez (San Diego Padres) and Brady Singer (Kansas City Royals).

The winner of Saturday’s US game against Venezuela will face Cuba in the semi-finals on Sunday. The winner of this game will advance to the WBC title game, where they will face either Japan or the winner of Friday’s game Mexico vs Puerto Rico.