Ryan Dempster displayed major guts when he took the mound for Canada during the World Baseball Classic this month. The odds were always against him succeeding in the Wbc after his long layoff from professional baseball, but on a team of other cast-offs and past prime pitchers, his place seemed assured. Then he went out on the field and got battered.
Another tough outing
On Sunday, Dempster was tasked with facing the juggernaut team from the United States and things went awry almost immediately. The first batter he faced, Ian Kinsler, walked on four pitches.
Christian Yelich singled to right and while previous Team USA hero Adam Jones flew out, a double from Eric Hosmer would score two runs. That wouldn't be the last of the damage inflicted upon Canada in the first inning.
More batters came to the plate, and seemingly every one either grabbed a hit or walked. The final batter Dempster faced was Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who also walked on four pitchers. With that, Dempster's WBC was likely done, as Canada put in Andrew Albers. The final stat line for the starter was two hits allowed, three walks administered, and three runs scored, all in just 0.1 official innings.
Rough return to the mound
Things did not go much better for Dempster during his first WBC start.
On Thursday, the pitcher was rocked by the Dominican Republic. In just two innings, he gave up four runs and six hits; all of those runs came during the second inning. Eventually, Canada would fall to the defending tournament champions, 9-2.
Despite his struggles, however, it seems Dempster is enjoying his brief return to the limelight.
The two-time All-Star closed his career with a World Series title on the Boston Red Sox roster in 2013 and hasn't seen major league action since. He didn't pitch in 2014 before retiring and taking a job in the Chicago Cubs front office. Canada is not advancing past the first round of the WBC, but at least the baseball community got to see an old favorite pitch on the big stage one last time.
