LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- One night after exacting the mercy rule on Australia, Team Italy managed just two hits against a strong Venezuela pitching staff to drop a 6-0 decision Wednesday as World Baseball Classic competition continued for Pool D.
Italy (1-1) next plays the Dominican Republic (1-0) here on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. ET. The Italian team began round-robin play in Pool D on Tuesday night against Australia, winning by 10 runs.
Italy will likely have to beat the Dominican in order to advance to the next round.
A capacity crowd of 10,101 at Disney\'s Wide World of Sports Complex was firmly in the corner of the Venezuelans, whose pitching staff had few problems with an Italian lineup that had handily beaten the Australians the night before, 10-0.
Of course, there is a big difference between the baseball talent levels of Australia and Venezuela. Featuring a lineup of superstar names from Venezuela such as Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez, this game was as lopsided on the field as it was on paper.
"It\'s tough," manager Matt Galante said. "It\'s three quality Major League pitchers, and we got two hits. It\'s tough to win games like that. We tried to stay close where we could get a couple on base and one big hit, but we just couldn\'t do it."
They came close, once. In the third, Thomas Gregorio drew a one-out walk and advanced to second when Dustin Delucchi reached on an error by first baseman Ramon Hernandez. Tony Giarratano loaded the bases with a base hit to center, but starter Freddy Garcia struck out Frank Menechino and Frank Catalanotto to end the inning.
"Certainly, I think the opportunity was there for us, and you\'ve got to give Freddy credit," Galante said. "He faced two very good hitters and made a great pitch on the inside part of the plate to Menechino and one of those tough sliders on the shoe tops on Frank Catalanotto.
"You have to give him credit for that. If we did take advantage of it, sure, it could have been different. But we didn\'t."
Catcher Mike Piazza, Italy\'s lone marquee name, was responsible for three of the club\'s 12 strikeouts. The most dramatic occurred in the sixth frame, when Piazza worked Carlos Silva to a full count before looking at a called third strike, ending the inning and stranding Catalanotto at first.
Garcia threw 3 1/3 innings, allowed one hit and one walk while striking out seven. Silva followed with a nearly identical line, throwing 3 2/3 innings and allowing just one hit.
Italy didn\'t help itself with sloppy play in the field, including an error by first baseman Valentino Pascucci in the fourth that led to a Venezuela run. Alessandro Maestri\'s wild pitch led to another run in the seventh.
"It\'s obvious that they threw their best at us tonight," Piazza said. "They were on top of their game. Defensively, we gave them runs, which for a team like Venezuela, you\'re not going to get away with. On one hand, we\'re disappointed. We didn\'t get anything going tonight.
"[Tuesday] we scored a lot of runs and we came out a little flat offensively. But when you\'re facing guys like they threw out there tonight, it\'s understandable."
Italy\'s pitching, while not quite as sharp as it was against Australia, was still solid. Red Sox lefty Lenny DiNardo kept his Italy squad in the game with 2 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out none.
Houston farmhand Phillip Barzilla provided one inning of relief, during which he yielded an unearned run with a strikeout.
"I didn\'t feel like I had the command that I needed to have against this lineup, but it\'s part of the game," DiNardo said. "You\'re not going to go out with your best stuff every time. It was a great lineup. I tried to throw my best game at them for this time of year."
Added Galante: "One thing about starting pitching in this series -- it\'s the first outing of the spring. When you talk about command, you\'re probably not going to have your best command in the first outing. I thought [DiNardo] kept us in the game. That\'s all we want from our starters, is to keep us in the game."
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Alyson Footer is a reporter for MLB.com.', summary: null, article_photo: { caption: 'Frank Menechino returns to the dugout after striking out with the bases loaded in the third.', credit: 'AP', path: '/images/2006/03/08/C5pdNkOI.jpg' }, sub_headline: 'Club manages just two his in shutout loss', alt_headline: 'Italy\'s bats silenced by Venezuela', related_links: null, headline: 'Italy\'s bats silenced by Venezuela' }