MIAMI \u2014 Venezuelan players danced in the dugout before the first pitch, then pranced past Italy and into their nation’s first World Baseball Classic final.<\/p>\n
Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez hit run-scoring, two-out singles in a rapid seventh-inning rally that sparked a 4-2 victory Monday night and vaulted Venezuela into a title matchup against the United States (Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).<\/p>\n
Players celebrated in the clubhouse before quickly turning focus to the final.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of dancing,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWe have to show the world who Venezuela is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before each WBC game, Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the dugout for the tambor, coastal Afro-Venezuelan music and dance. They circle and shake, chant and enchant as they prepare to take the field in their nation’s yellow, red and blue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s us. That\u2019s our country,\u201d manager Omar L\u00f3pez said. \u201cThat\u2019s winter ball. That\u2019s how we enjoy our baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
And who is tops at the tambor?<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I think my cousin is the best dancer,\u201d Garcia said in the postgame interview room, turning to Acu\u00f1a, who was seated next to him and laughed at his relative’s remark.<\/p>\n
Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez is slated to start Tuesday night against the Americans\u2019 Nolan McLean. Because both teams are 5-1, a coin toss was held earlier Monday to determine the home team, and the U.S. won.<\/p>\n
Players avoided discussing the political turmoil between the U.S. and Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here to speak baseball,\u201d Acu\u00f1a said. \u201cOur country deserves the game tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venezuela overcame a 2-0, fourth-inning deficit after climbing out of a three-run hole to beat defending champion Japan in a quarterfinal. The Venezuelans reached the championship round for the first time after losing to South Korea in their only previous semifinal appearance in 2009.<\/p>\n
In 2023, Venezuela wasted a two-run, eighth-inning lead in a 9-7 quarterfinal loss to the U.S. in Miami as Trea Turner hit an eighth-inning grand slam.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaseball gives you these kind of opportunities,\u201d Acu\u00f1a said. \u201cLife is so ironic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Italy, the first European nation to reach a WBC semifinal, had been 5-0 in the tournament and sparked attention with an espresso-sipping ritual after home runs and victory celebrations featuring Italian wine.<\/p>\n
But a team with three Italy-born players, a handful of major leaguers and many from the minors couldn’t hold a late-inning lead against a batting order that got three straight RBIs from All-Stars as a pro-Venezuelan sellout crowd of 35,382 at loanDepot park roared.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn three years they are going to take us seriously,\u201d Italy manager Francisco Cervelli said. \u201cI just told the guys that they are the champions of this tournament. \u2026 They revolutionized Italy. They put another sport on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n
Italy went ahead in the second when Keider Montero forced in a run with three straight walks, the last to J.J. D\u2019Orazio. Dante Nori hit into a run-scoring forceout against Ricardo S\u00e1nchez, the first of six relievers who combined to finish a five-hitter.<\/p>\n
Eugenio Su\u00e1rez’s fourth-inning homer off Aaron Nola started the comeback, and winner \u00c1ngel Zerpa escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when he threw a sinker on the outside corner past Sam Antonacci.<\/p>\n
Gleyber Torres walked leading off the seventh against loser Michael Lorenzen, and Jackson Chourio’s two-out single put runners at the corners.<\/p>\n
Acu\u00f1a grounded to the shortstop hole and beat Antonacci’s throw from the outfield grass as pinch-runner Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez scored. Garcia lined a 2-0 fastball to left, driving in Chourio with the go-ahead run, and Arraez chased Lorenzen when he singled on a full-count fastball.<\/p>\n
Daniel Palencia got three straight outs for the save, striking out Antonacci to end the game.<\/p>\n
As Venezuelans jumped and screamed, Italy players spent 10 minutes in front of their dugout hugging each other and saluting fans. Team captain Vinnie Pasquantino talked about the millions thought to have watched on television in Italy, where the first pitch was thrown at 1:08 a.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t successful on the field tonight, but we were successful in Italy,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what this is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Venezuelan players danced in the dugout before the first pitch, then pranced past Italy and into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-541829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}