On Wednesday, Team Mexico and Team Canada will be squaring off to determine which team will be headed to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic.
On the mound for Mexico will be veteran right-hander Jose Urquidy of the defending World Series champion Houston Astros.
Both teams are tied at 2-1 in Pool C.
The loser of this game will either end up as the runner-up of Pool C and match up with Cuba or be eliminated from the WBC.
On Twitter, the Astros made a post to hype fans up about Urquidy getting the ball in such an important and pivotal start in the WBC, with so much on the line.
Urquidy gets the start with a spot in the #WorldBaseballClassic quarterfinals on the line.
2 PM | FS2 | Mexico vs. Canada pic.twitter.com/Fvi6etVlQa
—Houston Astros (@astros) March 15, 2023
This is a big start for Urquidy.
But given the Astros’ recent track record, this is certainly not uncharted territory for the right-hander.
Urquidy has been with the Astros since 2019 and has been a part of three World Series teams.
He won a ring with the Astros last October.
But the 27-year-old is set to take the mound again and face a star-studded Canada lineup that features Freddie Freeman, Tyler O’Neill, Abraham Toro, and Bo Naylor.
With a trip to the quarterfinals on the line, it doesn’t get much bigger than this.
Fortunately for Mexico, they have just the right guy to pitch them for the next round and keep their WBC title hopes alive.
Mexico won on Tuesday night against Great Britain by a final of 2-1 and were largely carried by Taijuan Walker’s eight strikeouts over four innings of work.
They’ll look for another strong pitching performance today.
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Jose Altuve Comments On Playing For His Home Country