The U.S. (1-1) meets Canada (1-1) in the final game of Pool D play on Sunday with the winner advancing to the second round.
The Mexicans pulled it off with a nearly flawless game, getting good pitching, solid defense and some timely hits in front of a boisterous, pro-Mexican crowd of 44,256 at Chase Field.
The last save will be the toughest of them all for Mariano Rivera.
Many big-name pitchers found reason to say no to the World Baseball Classic. R.A. Dickey was an automatic yes.
The great Mariano Rivera is getting set to close his career.
The 43-year-old right-hander is baseball's saves leader with 608. He missed most of last season after he tore a ligament in his right knee while catching fly balls during batting practice.
Caution over rules for the World Baseball Classic limited Gio Gonzalez to 42 pitches Thursday afternoon in his final Washington Nationals start before joining Team USA.
Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer has been called upon to replace injured Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira on the United States team for the World Baseball Classic.
Major League Baseball intends to expand the use of instant replay for the 2014 season and will be studying over the course of this year which calls to review and how to do it.
