One of the best things about the World Baseball Classic is watching a previously unknown player excel against the best of the best. That trait was on full display Tuesday when Rio Gomez, son of the late ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez, made his WBC debut with Colombia.
Rio, who is currently in the farm system of the Boston Red Sox, took the mound for Colombia in the sixth inning. Gómez used just five pitches to record his first two outs, both on ground balls. After walking Owen Casey on seven pitches, Gomez rebounded to strike out Jacob Robeson to end the inning.
As Rio left the field, his mother was shown on the broadcast cheering Rio on.
However, Rio was not done. He also came in for the seventh inning, and struck out another on three pitches. After this their night ended. Ryo is eliminated from the competition after four eliminations. His performance came at a crucial point in the competition, as Colombia was trying to limit a 1–0 loss to Canada.
Colombia exited the seventh without a loss, but Canada rallied to score in both the eighth and ninth innings. Canada won the contest 5–0.
Rio’s father, Pedro, was a longtime MLB reporter who joined ESPN in 2003. He established himself as one of the game’s best and most recognizable baseball analysts during his tenure at ESPN. pedro died untimely In 2021. He was 58 years old.
Pedro took great pride in Rio’s baseball career. Broadcaster Adam Amin said Pedro”puffed up with pride“When talking about his son.
Rio spent the previous season with the Double-A affiliate of the Red Sox.