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Panama pounced on three Team Canada errors in the sixth inning, scoring three times en route to a 4-3 victory at the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Canada, which started play in Pool A on Saturday with an 8-2 win over Colombia, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Abraham Toro doubled to drive in Otto Lopez, who led off the inning with a single to centre-field.
Panama tied the game 1-1 in the fourth with an RBI single from Luis Castillo.
Canada restored its lead in the bottom half of the inning when Denzel Clarke’s single drove home Bo Naylor.
In the decisive sixth inning, pitcher James Paxton replaced Antoine Jean on the mound. Paxton walked Jose Ramos, and then got Edmundo Sosa to fly out. First baseman Josh Naylor then failed to catch a ball from third baseman Abraham Toro, and both were charged with errors as Ramos moved to second base.
Paxton then got Luis Castillo to fly out but gave up a single to Miguel Amaya to load the bases. With two out, Panama pinch-hitter Ruben Tejada singled to drive in a pair of runs aided later by a Paxton throwing error. Enrique Bradfield Jr. then had an RBI single to drive in Amaya for a 4-2 Panama lead.
Canada got a run back in the bottom of the eighth when Owen Caissie connected for an RBI double that plated Bo Naylor.
Canada was outhit 11-9 by Panama and left 10 runners stranded on base.
Paxton pitched 1 2/3 innings and gave up four hits and three runs. He struck out two batters and was tagged with the loss. Jameson Taillon pitched 3 2/3 innings for Canada and gave up a run and two hits and struck out three.
Canada (1-1) plays unbeaten Puerto Rico (2-0) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
South Korea joins Japan in quarterfinals
South Korea advanced to the quarterfinals, moving past the first round for the first time since 2009 by beating Australia 7-2 on Monday night at the Tokyo Dome behind four runs batted in from Bo Gyeong Moon, who leads the tournament with 11.
The South Koreans (2-2) finished second in Group C behind Japan and Shohei Ohtani, and they will next play at Miami on Friday. South Korea, Australia and Taiwan all had identical records, and South Korea needed to beat Australia by five runs or more to advance based on a tiebreaker of fewest runs allowed divided by defensive outs.
Australia would have advanced with a win or a loss by four runs or fewer.
Hyun Min Ahn hit a decisive sacrifice fly in the ninth that scored Hae-Min Park standing up. Do Yeong Kim walked against Jack O’Loughlin leading off and Park, a pinch runner, reached third when Jung Hoo Lee’s grounder off O’Loughlin’s glove went to shortstop Jarryd Dale, whose throw to second bounced into short right field for an error.
With Australia needing one run to advance, Chris Burke walked with one out in the bottom half and Lee robbed Rixon Wingrove of an extra-base hit with a sliding, backhand catch in the right-center gap. Pinch-hitter Logan Wade followed with a game-ending popout to Moon, and the first baseman threw his glove high in celebration.
Japan (3-0) closes group play on Tuesday against the Czech Republic (0-3) before travelling to Miami for a quarterfinal on March 14.
Defending champion Japan became the first nation to clinch a quarterfinal berth, then rallied on Masataka Yoshida’s two-run homer in the seventh inning to beat Australia 4-3 on Sunday night in Tokyo and assure first place in its first-round group.
Japan advanced earlier Sunday when South Korea lost to Taiwan 5-4 in 10 innings, also at Tokyo Dome.
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