Mexico knocks USA out of Classic
By Mychael Urban / MLB.com

• Box score

ANAHEIM -- Team Mexico's chances of reaching the semifinals of the inaugural World Baseball Classic were razor-thin heading into its game against Team USA on Thursday; it needed to win 3-0 in at least 13 innings to stay alive.

The likelihood of that scenario playing out was highly unlikely, and Mexico knew it. So it settled for the next-best thing.

Playing solely for national pride, Team Mexico got two RBIs from Jorge Cantu and a brilliant night out of its bullpen on the way to a tense 2-1 victory in the second-round finale for both teams in front of 38,264 fans at Angel Stadium.

Lefty starter Oliver Perez and seven relievers held Team USA to three hits as Mexico improved to 3-3 for the tournament -- and eliminated its rivals to the north from title contention while avenging a 2-0 loss in the first round in the process.

"We wanted to end triumphant," Cantu said. "We knew yesterday we were out, but we wanted to end strong, and that's how we played."

"This is a very important step for Mexican players," Perez added. "This is a wonderful way to open the doors for all of our great Mexican players."

Team USA's Roger Clemens cruised through the first two innings, but Mexico appeared to break through when Mario Valenzuela lined a ball off the right-field foul pole -- about eight feet up -- to open the bottom of the third for an apparent home run. But the umpires, thinking the ball hit below the fence line, ruled the ball in play as it bounced into the outfield, so Valenzuela stopped at second base.

Mexico manager Paquin Estrada stormed out of the dugout in protest, prompting a conference among the umpires, but without the benefit of video replays, which clearly showed it to be a homer, the original call stood.

"For me and for everyone, it was a home run," Estrada said. "It was a home run for everybody but the umpires."

To the delight of Mexico's fans, Valenzuela eventually scored when Cantu poked a two-out single up the middle. After the inning Cantu could be seen laughing with one of the umpires.

"I didn't see anything," Cantu said. "I was just giving him a hard time."

Team USA quickly tied the game on Vernon Wells' sacrifice fly to right off righty reliever Francisco Campos in the top of the fourth; Perez worked three shutout innings, allowing a hit and a walk on 36 pitches.

Righty Edgar Gonzalez took over for Mexico in the fifth and ran into immediate trouble, giving up a double to Jeff Francoeur and hitting Michael Barrett with a pitch, but Francoeur helped Gonzalez out by getting hung up and tagged out between second and third after Michael Young squared to bunt. Gonzalez then got Young and Derek Jeter on groundouts to escape the inning.

"They made some great pitches tonight," said USA manager Buck Martinez. "You have to tip your hat to the quality of pitching we saw in this tournament, especially in this round.

"We're not making any excuses; we didn't hit. ... [Mexico] should certainly be proud about the way they played."

Mexico chased Clemens, who gave up six hits and a walk while striking out four on 73 pitches, with one out in the fifth when Alfredo Amezaga's single put runners at the corners. Righty reliever Scot Shields came on, Amezaga stole second base, and Cantu delivered his RBI groundout for a 2-1 lead.

"This was for Mexico, so everyone can know what we're doing here," Cantu said. "We can leave here with our heads held high."

Lefty Ricardo Rincon needed but seven pitches in working a perfect sixth for Mexico, and Oscar Villarreal needed only eight to get through the seventh before duplicating it in the eighth to set up a dramatic finish.

With a the pro-Mexico portion of the crowd trying in vain to drown out chants of "USA," lefty Jorge De La Rosa took over for the ninth and struck out Ken Griffey Jr. before walking Jones and being replaced by righty Luis Ayala, who walked Alex Rodriguez to move the tying run into scoring position.

That brought righty David Cortes out of the bullpen to face Wells, who grounded into a 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch he saw, setting off a wild celebration that featured Team Mexico saying good-bye to its fans with a flag-waving victory lap.

"We were here to win, and that's how we performed this evening," said Estrada, who kept the lineup card as a souvenir in case it turns out to be Clemens' last career appearance. "It's all been a very positive experience."