Jonathan Loaisiga’s appearance for Team Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic didn’t get off to an ideal start.
The Yankees reliever — pegged as a key piece out of Nicaragua’s bullpen for the next 10 days — allowed three runs on three hits in his one inning Sunday, blowing the lead and taking the loss against Team Israel loanDepot Park in Miami.
Jonathan Loaisiga allowed three runs in the eighth inning Sunday.USA TODAYWhen Loaisiga entered in the eighth inning, Nicaragua still held a 1-0 lead that had lasted since the fifth. He forced a groundout against his first batter. But a single, a hit by pitch and another single followed, and Israel quickly erased its deficit.
The most damaging hit came later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two outs. Garrett Stubbs, the Phillies’ backup catcher serving as Israel’s third baseman, turned a 98 mph 2-2 pitch from Loaisiga into an opposite-field, ground-rule double that one-hopped the fence. Nicaragua fell to 0-2 in the tournament.
Loaisiga’s ERA for the WBC now sits at 27.00. He’s one of six Nicaragua players affiliated with MLB organizations, though only two are on 40-man rosters, according to The Post’s Greg Joyce.
Jonathan Loaisiga allowed three runs in the eighth inning and blew Nicaragua’s lead against Israel.Getty Images
Jonathan Loaisiga will be a key piece of the Yankees’ bullpen again this season.Charles Wenzelberg Loaisiga will pitch in his sixth MLB season with the Yankees this year, and he appeared in 50 games and threw 48 innings in 2022. He dealt with a shoulder injury in the early months that campaign, but he still emerged as a reliable piece of their bullpen that dealt with a plethora of injuries and absences.
He’ll have an adjustment with the pitch clock implemented this season — Loaisiga took an MLB-high 19.8 seconds between pitches last year with no runners on base — but said he started camp “further ahead of where I’m usually at at this time in spring training.”
That didn’t continue over into the WBC, though. Nicaragua closes its Pool D schedule with games against the Dominican Republic and Venezuela on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
