David Bednar took the ball in the top of the seventh inning fro Team USA, leading Canada 5-3. Bednar induced two ground balls to the first two batters, but the first could not be fielded cleanly by Bryce Turang at second and the second a diving stop by Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, but the runner beat his throw from the ground. One passed ball by Cal Raleigh and Bednar had the tying runs in scoring position with no outs and the 3-4-5 hitters coming up.

No problem. He induced Josh Naylor to pop-up to third and struck out Tyler O'Neill. Owen Caissie came to the plate and battled, working a nine-pitch at-bat, but with a 3-2 count and and chants of U-S-A! roaring through Daikin Park in Houston, Bednar got Caissie to strike out on a nasty slider.

My take: Perfect pitch. He feeds on the pressure. Bednar has been brilliant for USA and that's no surprise to Pirates fans. Going to be at least another year before any initial judgments can be made on that trade, when cather Rafael Flores is pushing to make the big-league roster. It's a very high bar.