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The U.S. seventh started innocently enough in the World Baseball Classic finals, as Puerto Rico reliever Jose Berrios retired the first two hitters with relative ease. 

Then Nolan Arenado -- who has been struggling mightily pretty much throughout the Classic -- singled. He noticably breathed a sigh of relief on first base. Next up, Eric Hosmer would be hit by a pitch. Then Andrew McCutchen drew a walk to load the bases for Brandon Crawford. 

Crawford, by the way, entered the game carrying a .429/.478/.667 line in the WBC. He was set to face lefty J.C. Romero (remember him?). And on a full count, Crawford delivered: 

That turned a 4-0 USA lead to 6-0. Given that Marcus Stroman was throwing no-hit ball and wasn’t too close to his pitch limit, it felt like a dagger. 

Giancarlo Stanton next singled home a run to make it 7-0. USA would actually leave the bases loaded, but the damage had been done.