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The United States is on the ropes in the World Baseball Classic after a shocking 8-6 loss to Italy on Tuesday \u2014 and now U.S. manager Mark DeRosa is on the hot seat for a premature celebration.
The U.S. \u2014 the favorites to win the WBC \u2014 lost to Italy after failing to complete a wild comeback. The States fell behind 8-0 before rattling off six straight runs, but the U.S. ultimately couldn\u2019t make up the deficit and fell to 3-1 in pool play.
Though the United States entered Tuesday\u2019s game undefeated, it had not yet clinched a spot in the knockout stage. A win against Italy would have put the U.S. through, a fact that DeRosa was seemingly unaware of prior to the game.
During an interview on MLB Network on Tuesday morning, before the Italy game, DeRosa spoke as if the U.S. had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals.
\u201cTon of respect for Italy. It\u2019s weird, we want to win this game even though our ticket\u2019s punched to the quarterfinals because Mexico plays Italy actually,\u201d DeRosa said. \u201cSo, the way the schedule lines up, this is an important game for us.\u201d
DeRosa\u2019s comments drew scrutiny as Tuesday\u2019s game unfolded and Italy took a commanding lead, particularly in the wake of the manager\u2019s decision to rest starters Bryce Harper and Alex Bregman and warm up emergency reliever Clayton Kershaw.
After the game, DeRosa said he \u201cmisspoke\u201d when he said the U.S. had already advanced.
\u201cI was on \u2018Hot Stove\u2019 with a couple of buddies today and completely misread the calculations,\u201d DeRosa told reporters after the loss. \u201cWe knew Mexico was going to play Italy and running all the numbers with if we lost tonight with the runs allowed and runs scored and outs. So, I just misspoke.\u201d
The United States\u2019 fate now rests on the outcome of Wednesday\u2019s game between Mexico and Italy.
If Italy wins, the U.S. will advance.
If Mexico wins in nine innings and scores five or more runs, the United States will advance. If Mexico wins in nine innings and scores fewer than five runs, the States will be eliminated.
Rohan Nadkarni is a sports reporter for NBC News.\u00a0
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