MIAMI, FLORIDA – MARCH 15: Gunnar Henderson #11 of Team United States celebrates with Aaron Judge #99 after hitting a solo home run against Team Dominican Republic during the fourth inning at loanDepot park on March 15, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Megan Briggs
Getty Images
Maybe it was the two big swings from the two up-and-coming Major League Baseball stars — one in the starting lineup on this day because of his past history with the opposing pitcher, one who wasn’t even initially on the roster.
Maybe it was the stellar pitching — first from one of the game’s best hurlers and then from a talented bullpen that followed.
Maybe it was the dazzling defense — a laser of a throw from right field to third base, a web-gem of a double play.
Pick whichever facet of the game you want, but all together, it added up to one thing: The United States is once again back in the World Baseball Classic final after a tense, thrilling 2-1 win over the Dominican Republic in the semifinal round on Sunday at a sold-out loanDepot park.
“That,” USA manager Mark DeRosa said, “was high-level baseball at its finest.”
Although the game’s finish didn’t come without some controversy.
Closer Mason Miller’s final pitch, an 89 mph slider well below the strike zone to Geraldo Perdomo, was a called third strike on a full count. Instead of the Dominican Republic having runners on the corners and superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. coming to the plate in a one-run game, the contest was over.
“I don’t want to focus on the last pitch,” Dominican Republic manager Albert Pujols said. “Obviously, it didn’t go our way. Disappointed about the way the game ended, but I don’t want to criticize. It just wasn’t meant to be for us.”
It could have been, though.
Sunday’s World Baseball Classic semifinal was as much a chess match as it was a heavyweight bout between two of the top teams in the tournament.
The star power between the United States and Dominican Republic arguably rivaled any matchup seen on a baseball diamond before. MVPs, Cy Young winners, All-Stars litter both rosters.
So every calculated decision carried enhanced magnitude with a spot in the tournament final on the line.
“It’s what the world wants to see,” DeRosa said pregame.
For two hours and 55 minutes, they gave the world a show.
The United States did a little bit of everything to get the win.
There were a couple big hits, with Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony hitting solo home runs in the fourth inning — Henderson against Luis Severino, Anthony against Gregory Soto — to erase an early 1-0 deficit.
DeRosa started Henderson at third base on Sunday over Alex Bregman because of Henderson’s history of success against the Dominican righty — Henderson was 7 of 9 with a home run and four RBI all-time versus Severino entering the game.
On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, one in which Henderson fouled off five of the first eight pitches as he worked the count full, he sent a near middle-middle cutter 400 feet to right-center field to tie the game at 1-1.
“I’ve seen his pitches well and that’s just something that gives you confidence going into the game,” Henderson, a 24-year-old who already has a Rookie of the Year honor (2022), Silver Slugger (2023) and MLB All-Star nod (2024) under his belt. “Yeah, I was able to fight off a couple good pitches and then got one more over the plate. Didn’t miss.”
Anthony, just 21 years old and 71 games into his MLB career, made it 2-1 two at-bats later when he sent a middle-middle sinker from Dominican reliever Gregory Soto 421 feet to center field.
“He’s a special kid,” DeRosa said of Anthony, a South Florida native who was a prep standout for powerhouse Parkland Stoneman Douglas, said. “To be able to handle the moment, the quality of it, that is a testament to the kind of player he is right now. … I expect big things from him.”
That was all the scoring the United States could muster — and it was all it needed as pitching on both sides dominated the night.
Reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes paved the way with 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball before the United States’ bullpen tossed 4 2/3 shutout innings to contain a Dominican lineup that entered Sunday averaging 10.2 runs per game.
“He is one of the best pitchers — if not the best — in the game,” Pujols said pregame of Skenes. “Probably hard to hit, but he’s not invincible.”
Except… he nearly was invincible on this night.
The Dominican Republic managed six hits against Skenes. Junior Caminero hit a home run off him in the second inning, when he got all of a Skenes sweeper that just clipped the top outside corner of the strike zone and sent it 401 feet to left-center field. It was the DR’s tournament-record 15th home run, besting Mexico’s mark of 14 home runs from the 2009 iteration of the tournament.
That’s the only run Skenes allowed, partially because of his dominance (he generated eight whiffs on 40 swings against), partially because of the defense behind him making plays and partially because of his ability to maneuver out of jams.
He needed nine pitches to retire the top of the Dominican lineup in the first inning. He cruised through the second outside of the home run.
In the third, the defense came to his rescue. Right fielder Aaron Judge made a laser of a throw on a Ketel Marte single to nab Tatis and eliminate Skenes’ first potential threat with runners on the basepaths.
In the fourth, Skenes stranded the bases loaded when he got Austin Wells to fly out to left field.
He was pulled in the fifth after giving up back-to-back one-out hits to Tatis and Marte. Reliever Tyler Rogers — who joined the United States team on Friday — got out of the jam when he got Soto to hit a grounder up the middle that Bobby Witt Jr. turned into a web-gem double play.
Griffin Jax tossed a perfect sixth before David Bednar escaped a seventh-inning jam with two on and one out by striking out Tatis and Marte.
Garrett Whitlock pitched a perfect eighth.
And then Miller shut the door with a scoreless ninth, working around a one-out walk to Julio Rodriguez, to send the United States back to the championship game.
“We want to win the whole thing,” DeRosa said. “I mean, that’s why we signed up for this. So certainly a huge moment; Can’t overlook it. I’m blessed to be a part of it. I’m blessed to manage these guys. I’ve had an absolute blast, but yeah, job’s not done.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2026 at 11:04 PM.
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Miami Herald
Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.