Team USA shakes off slow start to dominate final World Baseball Classic exhibition vs. Rockies

Its dominance took a while to materialize, but Team USA ended its two-game pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition tour with a 14-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. The game was called after eight innings.

A day after a dominant 15-1 win over the San Francisco Giants, the American lineup began the scoring with a titanic homer from superstar Aaron Judge in the first inning, but that was the extent of the offense in the first three innings.

It was the Rockies' collection of major and minor-league talent that held the 4-3 lead through four innings. Team USA got two more runs in a fourth inning rally, but Rockies outfielder Mickey Moniak greeted the only mostly retired Clayton Kershaw with a solo homer in the bottom of the frame. The Los Angeles Dodgers great, who played his final MLB season last year, didn't even get out of the inning.

That led to the Americans calling in a loan from the Rockies, organizational arm Carson Skipper, to finish the inning. He did, but only after giving up a two-run homer to Kyle Karros.

If there was any tension on the Team USA side after that, it dissipated quickly. Alex Bregman homered in the fifth inning. Will Smith homered in the sixth inning, which was followed by a four-run rally. Paul Goldschmidt and Byron Buxton homered in the eighth inning.

Eventually, more Rockies farmhands took their places in the Team USA lineup. And continued piling on.

The final score wound up being what you would expect from an All-Star roster against the depth of one of MLB's lowest-performing organizations. It wasn't the best outing from Kershaw, but the Team USA bullpen was otherwise strong behind starter Ryan Yarbrough, with scoreless innings from Brad Keller, Garrett Cleavinger and Garrett Whitlock.

Team USA will now head to Houston to open WBC group play, facing Brazil on Friday in what could be one of the most lopsided games of the tournament.