MIAMI –- Venezuela flexed its muscles on Friday, but not in the way many would think.

Beyond the Braves’ stellar outfielder — who was a factor in three of his country’s four runs by going 3 for 3 with a home run, two RBIs and a stolen base — and the Giants infielder, who added another double and leads the Classic in two-base hits (3) and home runs (2), it was the pitching that really took a step forward.

World Baseball Classic 2026

Group A (San Juan) presented by Discover Puerto Rico
Group B (Houston) and Group D (Miami) presented by Capital One

Venezuela painted Nicaragua white with marker 4-0 to continue their undefeated path after three days of Group D of the World Baseball Classic.

With this result, Venezuela ties with Puerto Rico as the country with the most shutouts in the history of the World Classic, with six.

Yohendry Gómez and Keider Montero completed the so-called piggyback, in which two pitchers complete the work of a conventional starter. The two combined for 5.0 scoreless innings, five hits and five strikeouts.

And after there, the bullpen completed the job in dominant fashion. Nicaragua had just two more hits.

“Do people here understand what ‘gasoline’ is? They have gasoline,” said Nicaragua manager Dusty Baker. “I’m trying to figure out where they got that high-octane gas from, because they brought in a guy I’d never heard of and he was throwing 98 mph, then another guy I’d never heard of either, and he was at 97. And then they brought in the last guy… and they told me he was in Japan (Andrés Machado),” he concluded in disbelief.

All this, without having used Daniel Palencia, who could be the most valuable arm in the vinotinto bullpen, which speaks even more about the depth of the squad.

After all, in the first three games of this Classic, Venezuela has shown that it can win with thunder, good starting pitching, solid defense and efficient baserunning. On Monday, it could be said that they added thanks to traditional baseball. With “small ball”, supported by the fundamentals.

“Good pitching and good defense, there is no secret,” commented Venezuela manager Omar López. “You can have the best offense in the world, the best team in the world from one to nine, but if you shoot and play good defense, you can win the game 1-0 and you get your victory easily.”

And between the work of the bullpen, the glove of Gleyber Torres and William Contreras – who came together to get an out on the rubber and preserve the shutout – added to the skills of Acuña Jr., the good base running, and the contact of Arráez, as the Venezuelans found their formula to add another victory.

“We really have a lot of talent, the whole team,” reflected Acuña Jr. “They are phenomena. Really, the day I don’t hit, (Jackson) Chourio can be there; the day (Luis) Arráez doesn’t hit… the day I don’t hit I can steal a base and win, I can make a play. We have enough depth in the lineup, anyone can be the player of the game.”

At the end of the match against Nicaragua, Venezuela had the second best collective ERA of the tournament (1.33), with just five clean runs allowed in 27 innings. A clear message for the rest of the contest: the vinotinto squad can not only beat you with hits, but also knows how to play old-school ball and has enough “gasoline” to extinguish any rebellion.