{"id":624299,"date":"2026-03-15T00:58:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/624299\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T00:58:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T00:58:35","slug":"red-sox-relievers-latest-clutch-performance-sends-italy-to-wbc-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/624299\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox reliever’s latest clutch performance sends Italy to WBC semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italy\u2019s magical World Baseball Classic run continues, and so does Greg Weissert\u2019s impressive performance on the global stage.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox reliever recorded a five-out save on Saturday evening to send Puerto Rico home and advance the still undefeated Italy to the penultimate round of the triennial tournament. He allowed two hits, struck out two, and threw 28 pitches (17 strikes) over his 1 2\/3 scoreless frames in Italy\u2019s 8-6 win.<\/p>\n

Saturday marked Weissert\u2019s third save of the WBC. The righty, 31, has five career saves in parts of four big-league seasons between the New York Yankees (2022-23) and Red Sox (since 2024). Since being acquired by Boston in the Alex Verdugo trade<\/a> two offseasons ago, he owns a 2.97 ERA over 134 appearances, including 27 games finished.<\/p>\n

Though the Red Sox have veteran lefty Aroldis Chapman in the closer role, this version of Weissert could be a significant boon for the bullpen, should manager Alex Cora find himself in need of a righty closer. In two Red Sox seasons, Weissert owns a 1.72 ERA over 17 ninth-inning appearances; opponents are 11 for 53 (.208) with three doubles, a home run, three earned runs, five walks and 11 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

Weissert isn\u2019t the only Red Sox reliever (and former Yankees prospect) who looks in midseason form in the tournament. Fellow righty Garrett Whitlock<\/a> has made two scoreless appearances for Team USA, which will face the Dominican Republic in a semifinals game Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"UnitedUnited States pitcher Garrett Whitlock throws to a Mexico batter during the ninth inning of a World Baseball Classic game, Monday, March 9, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy\u2019s magical World Baseball Classic run continues, and so does Greg Weissert\u2019s impressive performance on the global stage.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,4506,10504,33834,4,1406,2528,89,2543,151,4819,4820],"class_list":["post-624299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boston-red-sox","tag-baseball","tag-boston","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-bostonredsox","tag-garrett-whitlock","tag-greg-weissert","tag-italy","tag-mlb","tag-opening-day","tag-puerto-rico","tag-red-sox","tag-redsox","tag-spring-training","tag-team-usa","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116230482237309756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}