MIAMI –- The Dominican Republic reached its semifinal match of the World Baseball Classic against the United States on Sunday with an enviable momentum, undefeated in their first five games with an overall score of 51-10. Those led by Albert Pujols were – and still are – the leaders in each of the facets of the offensive line with .300/.430/.595 (OPS of 1.025).

World Baseball Classic 2026

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

But all that came to an abrupt end in Sunday’s clash, a 2-1 loss against a United States National Team which took advantage of solid pitching from Paul Skenes and a brilliant relay that were able to stop the Dominican offense – with some moments of suffering – and advance to their third consecutive final in this event.

In Tuesday’s grand final, the Americans will face the winner of Monday’s second semifinal between Venezuela and Italy.

“Yeah, I take my hat off to our pitching staff,” U.S. team manager Mark DeRosa said. “It is an incredible lineup that Dominicana presents to you. I have incredible respect for it.

“And for our bullpen to come in and do the job they did… Dominicana never stopped threatening. It was constant traffic, never relaxed. A game we will always remember, right?”

Indeed, the United States relief pitcher threw 4.2 two-hitters. But as DeRosa mentioned, there were moments of high tension.

Specifically, there were three innings in which the US pitching did what was necessary to get out of trouble against the Dominican squad, whose only run in the game was the blow by Caminero – which by the way established a new record for collective home runs in a single Classic with 15.

• In the next inning, Skenes found himself with runners on first and third, giving up singles to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte. Reliever Tyler Rogers entered with one out and immediately afterwards, the right-hander caused a double-play with a ground ball from Juan Soto to Bobby Witt Jr.

• And in the seventh, with runners on second and third and one out, David Bednar spectacularly struck out Tatis Jr. and Marte to put out the fire – just as he had done in the exact same situation in the quarterfinals in Houston against Canada.

“The moment is not big for those guys,” DeRosa said.

Speaking of strikeouts, with eight struck against the Dominican machine on Sunday, US pitching reached 76 in this World Classic, the second-most of all time for a single edition of the event, behind champion Japan’s 80 in 2023. Playing against Venezuela or Italy on Tuesday, American arms will have a good chance of breaking that mark.

DECISION AWARDED WITH GUNNAR HENDERSON

Before Sunday’s game, DeRosa explained his decision to put Gunnar Henderson in the lineup at third base instead of regular Alex Bregman. With seven hits in nine career at-bats against Dominican starter Luis Severino, it was a logical maneuver.

In the fourth inning, Henderson hit a 105.8 mile per hour, 400 foot blow to Severino. And in the same inning, Roman Anthony welcomed reliever Gregory Soto with his third homer of the tournament, a 108.2 mph, 421-foot blast.

“Obviously, he sees Luis’ pitches well,” DeRosa said of Henderson.

Now, one more victory is missing for the United States, who won the 2017 Classic by defeating Puerto Rico in the grand final, and then lost to Japan in 2023, when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout so Japan defeated the Americans in the championship game.

“We want to win it all,” DeRosa said. “That’s why we decided to be a part of it. The work is not complete yet.”