At the tender deadline in November the Milwaukee Brewers traded with the Tampa Bay Rays for pitcher Javy Guerra. Guerra, a hard throwing right-handed reliever, is out of MiLB options. Despite knowing that he needs to make the Brewers opening day roster, he elected to play for Panama in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He now has a save underneath his belt as he closed out Panama’s recent victory over Italy!
Brewers reliever Javy Guerra picks up the save against Team Italy.
Javy Guerra escapes a first and third and no outs in the 9th with clutch game ending DP to give Panama a huge 2-0 win over Italy and keeps their quarterfinal hopes alive and sends Pool A into even further chaos #WorldBaseballClassic pic.twitter.com/Y4UA5K263V
— WBC (@WBCContent) March 11, 2023
It was a rough start to the ninth inning for Javy Guerra. The inning began with the first two runners reaching base as he walked Dominic Fletcher and then allowed a single to Brett Sullivan. For Brewers fans they may remember that Brett Sullivan was a former catcher in the organization who was traded at the start of the 2022 season to the Padres in order to acquire Victor Caratini.
After getting himself into a first and third situation with nobody out in the ninth inning, Guerra kept his composure and struck out John Valente in the next at-bat. He then generated a ground ball back to himself and initiated a 1-4-3 game ending double play.
The save by Javy Guerra kept Panama’s quarterfinal hopes alive! Pool A has been quite chaotic and features teams such as the Netherlands, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, and Italy.
It is also worth mentioning the Brewers outfield prospect Sal Frelick is playing for Team Italy. Despite Italy being shutout, Frelick finished this game 2-4 and collected one double. Italy is now 1-2 in pool play and will play next on March 12 against the Netherlands. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:00 AM ET and will be televised on FS2.
Follow me on Twitter @tylerkoerth. Follow us @WiSportsHeroics for more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in Wisconsin sports, click here!
