Full World Baseball Classic coverage
Italy (1-0) upset Mexico (0-1) in the World Baseball Classic on Thursday, thanks in part to a blown save by Giants closer Sergio Romo. The right-hander inherited a one-run lead in the top of ninth but allowed a pair of runs on an Anthony Rizzo double, ultimately throwing 26 pitches before escaping the inning.
That workload has the reigning World Champions concerned according to Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle:
The staff is also trying to phone Romo to see how he feels a day after the game.
The issue is, Romo did not reach the 30-pitch limit that by rule would prevent him from throwing in tonight’s game against the U.S. team. In theory, he could have another long inning tonight.
The 30-year-old Romo threw at least 26 pitches just once last regular season, his first appearance of the year on April 8th. It's worth noting he did throw 35 pitches in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Reds as well.
Schulman says manager Bruce Bochy would not have allowed his closer to throw that many pitches in a game this early in spring training, nor would he use a reliever on back-to-back days just yet. The Giants don't really have any recourse here, so they just have to hope Mexico doesn't have a lead to protect on Friday evening.
Mexico will face USA (0-0) at 6pm PT tonight. If you had a ticket to a weather-impacted Cactus League game on Friday, you get a $5 ticket to the game at Chase Field.
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