Down four in the ninth inning, Italy rallied for five runs to stun Mexico, 10-9, in the opener for Pool D at the World Baseball Classic in Mexico.
Dodgers corner man Rob Segedin homered in the fourth inning, a two-run shot against Yovani Gallardo to pull Italy within 4-3 at the time.
Segedin was 1-for-4 on the night, flying out to center field to end the eighth inning against Dodgers teammate Sergio Romo. It ended a 1-2-3 inning for Romo, including a strikeout, leaving Mexico comfortably ahead 9-5.
The Italians sent seven men to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, and Mexico did not record an out. Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna allowed three straight doubles to open the inning, then Drew Butera reached on an error by shortstop Luis Cruz in an old friend Yahtzee.
A 10-pitch walk to Dodgers minor leaguer Drew Maggi, who hit .289/.366/.390 between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City in 2016, ended Osuna’s night, bringing on lefty Oliver Perez with the score 9-7.
A line drive single just out of the glove of Dodgers outfielder Alex Verdugo in right field made the score 9-8, then John Andreoli singled off the glove of the second baseman, bringing home the tying and winning runs to complete the walk-off win for Italy.
Don't sleep on the ITALIAN'S!!!! What's a walk off.
— Rob Segedin (@robsegedin25) March 10, 2017
Verdugo was 3-for-5 with a run scored in his first World Baseball Classic game. He batted second and started in center field, moving to right in the seventh.
Adrian Gonzalez played first base and was 0-for-5 in his 15th WBC game. He batted cleanup for Mexico, giving the Dodgers dual cleanup hitters on Thursday night along with Segedin in left field for Italy.
The top two teams in the four-team, round robin Pool D advance to the second round. Italy next plays Venezuela on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT, while Mexico battles Puerto Rico — which includes Kiké Hernandez — at 6:30 p.m.
Hernandez and Puerto Rico get their schedule started on Friday night against Venezuela at 6 p.m.