It’s a shame that Bryce Harper’s game-tying 2-run home run will be one of the greatest, most forgotten moments in baseball history
Bryce Harper and Team USA trailed Venezuela 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning of the World Baseball Classic championship game on Tuesday night at loanDepot Park.
The offense had been quiet all night. The tournament that was supposed to belong to the most talented roster ever assembled was slipping away in real time.
Then Bryce Harper stepped in against Andrés Machado with Bobby Witt Jr. on base and two outs and hit a two-run homer to center to tie the game.
Just like that. The building came alive, the momentum shifted, and for one inning it felt like Team USA was going to find a way.
Bryce Harper Game-Tying 2-Run Home Run in the 8th
Venezuela did not let them. Eugenio Suárez led off the ninth with a double off Garrett Whitlock to score Javier Sanoja from second and give Venezuela the lead right back. Daniel Palencia came in and retired the side in order in the bottom half to close it out.
Venezuela 3, Team USA 2. First World Baseball Classic title in Venezuelan history.
This is unfortunately true:
Bryce Harper’s homer was the only offense Team USA generated in the biggest game of the tournament. He came in hitting .167 over 24 at-bats in the WBC with four runs and one RBI. He went 2-for-4 on Tuesday with the two-run shot that briefly looked like it was going to define the championship. It defined the loss instead.
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This is not the first time Harper has delivered a moment like that. The most iconic home run of his career came in Game 5 of the 2022 NLCS against the Padres.
The Phillies were trailing 3-2 in the eighth inning. 2-2 count. Bryce Harper drove it over the left field fence at Citizens Bank Park and 45,485 people lost their minds. I was there. It was an incredible moment and marked the Phillies’ first pennant-clinching home run since Dick Sisler beat the Dodgers in Brooklyn in 1950.
You know it. Bedlam at the Bank. That one sent the Phillies to the World Series.
Bryce Harper: Bedlam at The Bank
Tuesday’s shot sent Team USA to the bottom of the ninth one run short. That’s baseball. The World Baseball Classic delivered one hell of a tournament.
Here is how Team USA’s tournament ran from start to finish.
- Win vs Brazil 15-5
- Win vs Great Britain 9-1
- Win vs Mexico 5-3
- Loss vs Italy 8-6
- Win vs Canada 5-3 in the quarterfinals.
- Win vs Dominican Republic 2-1 in the semifinals.
- Loss vs Venezuela 3-2 in the final.
Second straight WBC final. Second straight silver medal. The best roster in the world going home without a championship again. Bryce Harper gave them a chance. The rest of the lineup did not give him enough help.
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Hate to say I was right again but teams are better without Jesus Lizardo hahaha, it was always and destined to be Venezuela.