“There’s no crying in baseball,” Tom Hanks’ character Jimmy Dugan famously barked at a player in the 1992 sports comedy-drama, “A League of their Own.”
That’s something Team Israel should bear in mind.
On Monday night, Mar. 13, the team representing the Jewish state earned the “distinction” of being the first team ever to be on the losing end of a perfect game at the World Baseball Classic. Their formidable competitor in Miami was mighty Team Puerto Rico.
The final tally was Israel: 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 errors; Puerto Rico: 10 runs, 11 hits. A perfect game.
On the “bright” side, the defeat came a day after Baltimore Orioles hurler Dean Kremer, pitching for Team Israel, kept the bats of Nicaragua quiet over four innings at the WBC. Team Israel won the opener 3-1.
“Playing for Team Israel, anytime I get to put on that uniform is special for me,” said Kremer, 27, an Israeli-American born in California who grew up speaking Hebrew and has spent time living in Israel. “It’s like another home. So every time I get to represent, it’s one of the better feelings.”
(By the way, Kremer is not the only Baltimorean at the WBC. Also there is Jordan Gladstone, 14, a batboy for Team Israel who attends Pikesville’s Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, and his dad, Adam, who works in operations for the team.)
Still, the game against Puerto Rico stopped Team Israel cold in its tracks. For Puerto Rico, the hits came early and often. Led by New York Mets star Francisco Lindor, Puerto Rico ambushed Israel’s starting pitcher, Houston Astros prospect Colton Gordon, and knocked him out of the game before there were any outs in the second inning.
Puerto Rico scored three runs each in the first, second and fifth innings, and one final run in the bottom of the eighth that served as a “walk-off” of sorts. The 10-run lead triggered the WBC’s mercy rule, and the game ended. (Because the game did not go a full nine innings, it did not technically qualify as a perfect game.)
Puerto Rico’s starting pitcher, José De León, an experienced big leaguer now in the Minnesota Twins organization, was as sharp as could be — striking out 10 Israeli batters and exiting after five and two-thirds innings with a perfect game. The Puerto Rican bullpen kept Israel’s bats silent for the remainder of the contest.
Israel manager Ian Kinsler said he has a simple message for his team: move on.
“It’s got to go down the drain quickly,” Kinsler said after the game. “This tournament comes at you quick. We’ve got another game tomorrow that’s really important, so the faster we can forget about this one, the better.”
Still, Israel’s loss to Puerto Rico could be a harbinger of things to come over the next two days, with the vaunted Dominican Republic and Venezuelan teams up next. Orthodox prospect Jacob Steinmetz, the first Orthodox player drafted into the MLB, will start for Israel.
This article was primarily written by Jacob Gurvis, audience engagement editor for the JTA global Jewish news source. Jmore staffers contributed to this report.
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