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Led by Randy Arozarena's hitting, Team Mexico continues to shock the baseball world. At this stage, it is safe to call them the Cinderalla story of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In a closely contested game, Mexico defeated Puerto Rico 5-4 on Friday to secure a place in the WBC semifinals.
Arozarena has been one of the stars of this powerful Team Mexico offense. The 28-year-old is hitting .471/.625/.941 and has a 1.566 OPS over 17 at-bats. He leads the team in runs (7), RBIs (9) and doubles (5). He ranks second in the team behind Joey Meneses in hits.
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The game did not start out as planned for Mexico. Fans must have thought they had little chance of victory after giving up four runs in the first inning. Cutch hitting helped this Mexico team comeback and edged out a slender victory.
WBC fans are slowly falling in love with this Team Mexico team. After another upset over Puerto Rico, fans took to Twitter to praise the surprise team for the tournament.
Randy Arozarena has been the team's standout player throughout the tournament. He finished the game with a hit, a run and two walks.
The Tampa Bay Rays outfielder also came up with a crucial catch late in the game that prevented what looked like a fightback from Puerto Rico.
Randy Arozarena performances have helped Team Mexico reach their first ever WBC semifinals
Team Mexico will move on to play Team Japan on March 20 in Miami. Led by Shohei Ohtani, Japan is considered to be the favorites to win it all. Mexico will need to play at a high level if they have any chance of keeping their championship hopes alive.
The United States, Venezuela and Cuba are the other remaining teams in the tournament.
Mexican fans were delighted to have reached the World Baseball Classic semifinals for the first time in their history. This has been a memorable tournament for the nation. They defeated an MLB-filled Team USA roster earlier in the tournament and have now upset Puerto Rico.
