Team USA is heading back to the World Baseball Classic final behind an all-hands-on-deck effort to defeat the Dominican Republic 2-1 on Sunday in the semifinal, with the game ending on a controversial Mason Miller strikeout of Geraldo Perdomo in the bottom of the ninth.
The Americans will playeither Venezuela or Italy on Tuesday in the WBC final, with hopes of avenging their loss in the 2023 final vs. Japan.
Starter Paul Skenes delivered 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball to lead the Americans, allowing only a solo homer to Junior Caminero in the second. From there, the U.S. bullpen kept up the standard set by Skenes, holding the D.R.'s bats scoreless across the final 4 2/3 frames.
After Caminero put the D.R. on the board first with his solo blast — the Dominicans' record-breaking 15th homer of the tournament — the American offense battled back in the fourth inning with a pair of solo homers from Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony. Those two runs proved to be enough.
USA wins on controversial strike call
Sunday's game came down to the final pitch. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Perdomo worked the count full with two outs and the tying run on third. That's when Miller, the U.S.'s closer, delivered an 89 mph slider that was called strike three — despite not being anywhere near the zone.
Postgame, the Fox broadcast crew acknowledged the controversial call, with both David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez insisting the pitch was not a strike. Making matters worse, there was another questionable call during a Juan Soto at-bat in the eighth inning, when another low pitch was called a third strike.
Derek Jeter noted that he expects the automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system to be used in the next World Baseball Classic.
Defense and pitching show out in USA-D.R.
This low-scoring game featured defensive gems and excellent pitching throughout the contest. Dominican Republic starter Luis Severino opened the game by striking out Bobby Witt Jr. and Bryce Harper, getting them both swinging. In the third inning, he struck out three, including Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber with two runners on base. Severino exited in the fourth after allowing Henderson's solo homer. He finished the night having allowed five hits and the one run across 3 1/3 innings, with six strikeouts.
For the Americans, Skenes was more good than great, but that's not to take away from the massive accomplishment of holding the Dominican offense to one run. Skenes finished his night with six hits and one run allowed, with two strikeouts.
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The U.S. also showed up with some big defensive plays, including a massive throw from outfielder Aaron Judge that ended the third inning. Judge threw out Fernando Tatis Jr. on his attempt to go from first to third on a two-out single, stifling what could've been a big moment for the Dominicans and stealing back some momentum for the U.S.
In the next half-inning, the Americans scored their two runs.
Pitching with the lead in the fourth, Skenes got the USA out of another jam after the Dominican Republic loaded the bases on a Vlad Guerrero Jr. double, Manny Machado single and nasty hit-by-pitch on Julio Rodríguez. Austin Wells flied out to end that threat.
In the next inning, Rodríguez perhaps got some revenge, robbing Aaron Judge of what looked like a solo homer.
Skenes exited in the bottom of the fifth after allowing back-to-back singles, and the Team USA bullpen took it from there. Tyler Rogers, Griffin Jax, David Bednar, Garrett Whitlock and Miller collectively allowed two hits, six walks and, most importantly, zero runs to hold the USA lead.
Meanwhile, the D.R. bullpen struck out nine Americans while allowing just two hits.
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It was an entertaining classic of a semifinal, one that American manager mark DeRosa said, "That will be a game that we'll remember forever."
As for the controversial ending,D.R. manager Albert Pujols told reporters, "I'm not going to focus on that last pitch. … I don't want to criticize any of that. It just wasn't meant to be for us."
Read more for updates, news, and highlights from Team USA's 2-1 semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic in the WBC:
