Team USA stifles D.R.'s offense to make WBC final

MIAMI -- Legends dotted the field. Prodigious home runs, spectacular defense and dominant pitching filled the air. For most of Sunday night, a star-studded semifinal matchup pinning the Dominican Republic against the United States lived up to every imaginable expectation, thrilling a sold-out LoanDepot Park crowd clearly divided among two allegiances.

Then came the last pitch -- a slider that sailed below the zone but was called a strike, a painful reminder of the automated ball-strike system that was unavailable for this World Baseball Classic.

United States closer Mason Miller lifted his arms in jubilation, celebrating a 2-1 victory that sent his country to the championship game, where it will await Monday's winner between Italy and Venezuela. Dominican shortstop Geraldo Perdomo threw his hands up in disgust, embodying the pain of a baseball-loving nation left with heartbreak. After the dust settled, Perdomo's manager, the Dominican-born Albert Pujols, tried to change the subject.

"I'm not gonna focus on that last pitch," Pujols said in Spanish. "This has been a tremendous game between two tremendous teams. I feel incredibly grateful for the guys who represented us in this Classic. Once more, we raised our flag high in this Classic and left our mark, and I think our country is very proud."

The U.S. and D.R. rosters featured 25 players who were ranked within ESPN's Top 100. The two lineups for the semifinals had combined for 56 All-Star Games, 31 Silver Sluggers, nine Gold Gloves, five MVPs and, with Team USA starter Paul Skenes, one Cy Young Award. Their ensuing contest featured a little bit of everything, from prodigious blasts to spectacular plays to shutdown pitching. But a disappointing ending resonated.

Trailing by one with two outs left against Miller, widely considered the game's best closer, Julio Rodriguez worked a walk, moved to second on a passed ball and reached third on a groundout. Perdomo then worked the count full and fouled off back-to-back 101 mph fastballs. The ensuing pitch sailed low, but plate umpire Cory Blaser called a strike and Team D.R. had no recourse. Fernando Tatis Jr., one of the best Dominican performers in this tournament, was due up next.

"One-hundred-percent a ball," Perdomo said. "It's all right. It's baseball."

ABS will make its way to MLB for the 2026 season via challenge system, but it wasn't available for the WBC largely because some of the ballparks hosting pool play do not yet have the technology to incorporate it, a league official said. The same occurred with the pitch clock in 2023, with MLB ready to incorporate the timer during its regular season but not making it available for the international tournament.

"I would assume it comes in next time," Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said of ABS.

DeRosa, who will start New York Mets prospect Nolan McLean in Tuesday's championship game, called Sunday's semifinal matchup "high-level baseball at its finest."

U.S. first baseman Bryce Harper agreed.

"I think fans in baseball and all over the world watched this game tonight and had a blast watching it," he said. "That's two juggernauts going at it right there."

It showed first with home runs, starting with Junior Caminero, who turned on a high-and-away Skenes sweeper in the bottom of the second and sent it 401 feet to give the Dominican Republic the first run and a record-setting 15th homer in this tournament. Gunnar Henderson, who replaced Alex Bregman in the U.S. lineup because of his success against D.R. starter Luis Severino, and Roman Anthony (a late addition to the U.S. roster after Corbin Carroll broke the hamate bone in his right hand) followed in the fourth, hitting two balls a combined 821 feet to give the Americans their first lead.

Defense dominated thereafter. Aaron Judge gunned down Tatis attempting to go from first to third on a single, ending the third inning with Juan Soto set to bat. Bobby Witt Jr. slid in the hole to field a sharp grounder and throw out Manny Machado in the sixth, one of several spectacular plays turned in by the Kansas City Royals' young shortstop in this tournament. And Rodriguez went from taking a 98 mph fastball to his right hand in the bottom of the fourth to leaping against the center-field wall to rob Judge of a potential home run in the top of the fifth -- a play so impressive even Judge couldn't help but acknowledge it.

"He's gonna make exciting plays like that in big moments, and he did," Judge said of Rodriguez. "I wasn't too happy when he caught it, but a tip of the cap to him, man. He's just an impressive player. It's been fun watching him the last couple years."

The Dominican lineup had stormed through the first five games of this tournament, scoring a whopping 51 runs. But Skenes gave up only the Caminero homer in 4⅓ innings, and a string of relievers behind him continually pitched out of trouble. In the fifth, Tyler Rogers replaced Skenes and got Soto to bounce into an inning-ending double play. In the seventh, the D.R. put runners on second and third with one out, but David Bednar came back to strike out Tatis and Ketel Marte, working out of a jam similar to the one he weaved his way out of against Canada in the quarterfinals.

"USA!" chants from roughly half of the 36,337 fans in attendance followed Bednar as he made his way to the dugout.

Two innings later, those chants grew louder.

"That's what you dream about as a kid -- getting a chance to be in that moment, be in front of these fans," Judge, Team USA's captain, said. "That was definitely special. I think you ask any guy in this clubhouse, on both sides, it was definitely a special game tonight."