Team USA is going to the World Baseball Classic final after a 2-1 thriller over the Dominican Republic
Team USA is heading back to the World Baseball Classic championship game after beating the Dominican Republic 2-1 Sunday night at loanDepot Park in Miami in one of the better baseball games you will see all year. The Americans will face either Italy or Venezuela in the final on Tuesday.
The game ended on a pitch that was not a strike. Mason Miller threw an 89 mph slider in the dirt with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the tying run on third, and a full count on Geraldo Perdomo.
Plate umpire Cory Blaser rang him up. Perdomo threw his hands up. The Fox broadcast crew, including David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez, said immediately and without hesitation that the pitch was not a strike. There was also a questionable call on a Juan Soto at-bat in the eighth inning.
Mason Miller closes it out
The Dominican Republic had no recourse because the automated ball-strike challenge system that is coming to MLB this season was not available for this tournament. The technology was not in place at all the pool play venues. Albert Pujols, to his credit, refused to make it the story afterward. “I’m not going to focus on that last pitch. It just wasn’t meant to be for us.” That is a Hall of Famer handling a brutal moment with class.
The controversial ending should not overshadow what was an incredible baseball game from the first pitch. Derek Jeter acknowledged the ABS situation and said he expects it to be used in the next World Baseball Classic. He is right.
Paul Skenes started and was more good than great, which against this lineup is still a massive accomplishment. Junior Caminero turned on a high-and-away sweeper in the second inning and sent it 401 feet for a solo homer, the Dominican Republic’s record-breaking 15th of the tournament.
Skenes settled from there, finishing 4⅓ innings with six hits and one run allowed and two strikeouts before exiting after back-to-back singles in the fifth. Luis Severino started for the DR and was sharp, striking out Bobby Witt Jr. and Bryce Harper in the first and finishing with six strikeouts over 3⅓ innings before yielding to the bullpen.
The two runs that decided the game came in the fourth. Gunnar Henderson, inserted into the lineup specifically because of his history against Severino, hit a solo homer. Roman Anthony, a late roster addition after Corbin Carroll broke his hamate bone, followed with another.
Two balls hit a combined 821 feet. That was it for Team USA’s offense on the night against a DR bullpen that struck out nine Americans while allowing just two hits over the final innings.
Gunnar Henderson ties it for Team USA
Roman Anthony gives Team USA the lead
Aaron Judge had the defensive play of the game, gunning down Fernando Tatis Jr. trying to go from first to third on a two-out single in the third inning, killing a DR threat with Juan Soto on deck and swinging the momentum back to Team USA heading into the fourth. Julio Rodriguez got his revenge in the fifth, leaping at the center field wall to rob Judge of what looked like a home run. Judge tipped his cap. It was that kind of night.
Aaron Judge with a Frozen Rope
J-Rod Robbery
The bullpen was everything. Tyler Rogers, Griffin Jax, David Bednar, Garrett Whitlock, and Miller combined to allow two hits, six walks, and zero runs over the final 4⅔ innings. Bednar was especially sharp in the seventh with runners on second and third and one out, striking out Tatis and Ketel Marte back to back. A nearly identical situation to the one he escaped against Canada in the quarterfinals.
The DR lineup had scored 51 runs through five games entering Sunday night. Team USA held them to one. That is how good the pitching was.
Mark DeRosa said after the game that it is a game his team will remember forever. He is right about that. Two lineups that combined for 25 ESPN Top 100 players, 56 All-Star appearances, 31 Silver Sluggers, nine Gold Gloves, and five MVPs put on a show that lived up to every expectation until the very last pitch.
It just should not have ended the way it did.
Team USA advances to the championship game Tuesday. The Dominican Republic goes home having played some of the most entertaining baseball of this entire tournament. Both things are true.
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