Royals pitcher follows in Tarik Skubal’s footsteps, leaves Team USA after 1 WBC outing

The World Baseball Classic is now in its final day of group play. The biggest news right now is the stunning Team USA loss at the hands of Team Italy. Italy stormed out to an 8-0 lead and ended up winning 8-6. The Americans will now be rooting for the Italians to beat Mexico on Wednesday to keep their WBC hopes alive.

If Mexico wins, there will be a three-way tiebreaker based on runs allowed between the three teams. Team USA needs Mexico to score at least five runs if they do beat Italy. If not, then Team USA could be done with a third-place finish in the group.

The team will sit and watch the Italy/Mexico game to see what happens.

One of the team’s pitchers, Michael Wacha, has headed back to Phoenix, Arizona, for spring training. He followed in Tarik Skubal’s footsteps after only one WBC outing. Wacha’s only outing came after Logan Webb started the opening game against Brazil.

“Michael Wacha is back from Team USA and in Royals camp today. Apparently his one appearance in the WBC was always the plan, according to Quatraro, and Wacha is slated to make his next Cactus League start on Friday.”

Wacha pitched against Brazil on Friday, going 3.0 innings, allowing three earned runs off four hits and striking out five hitters. He did not pitch great, but did throw 31 strikes on 39 pitches.

The Royals will take on the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, and Wacha could extend to at least four innings for that game with the season around the corner.

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