March 22 (Reuters) - The United States broke through to win their first World Baseball Classic title with an emphatic 8-0 victory over Puerto Rico in Los Angeles on Wednesday behind the stellar pitching of Marcus Stroman and a 13-hit attack. Puerto Rico came in with a spotless 7-0 record in the 16-team tournament but the Americans (6-2) were not to be denied and the losers finished runners-up for the second straight WBC. Stroman was sensational, throwing six no-hit innings after yielding six hits in a row in a four-run first inning to Puerto Rico in a 6-5 second-round loss. The United States had advanced to their first WBC title game with a 2-1 semi-finals victory over Japan, winners of the first two tournaments. Tip of our caps to Puerto Rico and everybody else in the tournament, but we did something special.”The World Baseball Classic gold medal won by Team USA.

Source: Huffington Post March 23, 2017 05:48 UTC