ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Paul Goldschmidt sits in World Baseball Classic finale win over Puerto Rico

Mar 22, 2017, 4:15 PM | Updated: 11:17 pm

Team USA’s lineup in Wednesday night’s World Baseball Classic finale included one tweak to it compared to the semifinal a day prior.

That tweak was at catcher and not first base. Manager Jim Leyland again played Eric Hosmer over Paul Goldschmidt at first in Team USA’s 8-0 triumph over Puerto Rico in the WBC championship game.

Hosmer also started ahead of Goldschmidt on Tuesday when the United States beat Japan in the tournament’s semifinal game, 2-1. That riled up baseball fans, and while Hosmer has a game-winning knock in this international tournament and Goldschmidt has struggled, those fans remained confused by the move.

Goldschmidt played in five games during the World Baseball Classic, and he batted 1-for-13 with three strikeouts and two runs scored. Hosmer had gone 9-for-24 with five RBI and five runs scored with only one strikeout before Wednesday.

Against Puerto Rico, he took two walks and added a hit while scoring a run.

Despite the success without Goldschmidt, fans were still not feeling the move by Leyland for the third game in a row didn’t even use a pinch-hitter.

Prior to the game, Leyland said he was “trying to make America great again,” which of course wasn’t received well by those who know Goldschmidt’s nickname: “America’s first baseman.”

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