Last night at Chase Field, David Wright went 1-for-4 with a grand slam in Team USA's 6-2 win over Team Italy.
Wright flew out to right in the second and grounded out to short in the fourth before coming through with the biggest American hit in the tournament thus far: a fifth inning, two-out, grand slam off Marco Grifantini.
'It's emotional,' Wright said, according to WorldBaseballClassic.com. 'You hear the 'USA' chants, you look up in the stands and you see the flags, you look in the dugout and you see 'USA' across the front of guys' chests and across their hats, and you get caught up in the game and you get a little emotional.'
For a recap of last night's game, click here.
Brian Erni, MetsBlog.com:
Things didn't look promising when Wright got behind in the count 1-2 against Grifantini. He fought off a fastball to stay in the at bat, then went down and got a change up and deposited it over the left field wall to break a 2-2 tie. Both the USA dugout and the crowd in Arizona exploded, and Wright knew he got it the moment he connected.Analysts and coaches alike have said that Wright is the leader of this American team. The way the players reacted when he connected ' not just to the moment, but to the player who came through ' made it evident that wasn't just bluster. David Wright is Captain America.
Today at 4:00 pm, Team USA will take on Team Canada. The winner will advance to the second round of the tournament. The game can be seen on MLB Network.
