BEIJING-- Team Canada's Chris Robinson gets safely back to the bag as China's first baseman Yubing Jia has trouble handling the ball. August 13, 2008.
Uxbridge pitcher gets win over China in baseball opener
BEIJING -- If Chris Begg was looking to take something, anything, positive out of this season, he may have found it here on Wednesday.
The Uxbridge resident, named the starting pitcher for the Olympic Games opener against the host country from China, was dominating on the mound, leading Canada to a 10-0 victory, called after eight innings due to the mercy rule (10 run lead after seven innings) of international baseball.
Begg pitched into the seventh inning, leaving with a 6-0 lead.
"It's been a long year with the ups and downs," he admitted. "When I found out I was named to the team and I was healthy enough to come; this is the payoff. The Olympics are the payoff and anything after this I will worry about when I get home."
A shoulder injury has hampered the 28-year-old this season, and just last month, he was released from the San Francisco Giants organization, where he was pitching Triple-A in Fresno.
The sting of that disappointment behind him, he was in fine form against China, scattering six hits while striking out nine. He fanned the side in the fifth inning, part of a stretch where he struck out five of the six batters he faced.
"The strikeouts are pretty rare for me," he said with a grin. "Generally it's not my game. For the most part I just try to pound the strike zone with all my pitches and let them put the ball in play."
When manager Terry Puhl was formulating the lineup for the opening game of the round robin, the first starter he wanted to see on the mound to set the tone for the team was Begg.
"In my opinion, he is one of our best pitchers in terms of knowing how to pitch," said the former major leaguer. "The man knows how to pitch."
Canada jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning when Scott Thorman cleared the bases with a bomb to right field. Canada pushed across two in the fifth, one in the seventh, and plated four more in the eighth. A Michael Saunders solo shot in the eighth contributed to the four run inning.
"This was a game we were supposed to win, so to come in and actually do it and accomplish that, it's a notch in our belt and it feels great," said Begg.
Next up for Canada is a date with Cuba tomorrow.
A couple of other GTA players on the roster, David Davidson of Richmond Hill and Jonathon Lockwood of Toronto will be used in long relief during the Olympics, said Puhl.
-- Sports Editor Brad Kelly is in Beijing covering the Olympics for Metroland Media Group