PHOTO BY AL DIAZ
adiaz@miamiherald.com
After logging the biggest hit of the tournament, pulling a changeup into the gap in left-center field, Eugenio Suarez glided into second base and raised his arms high in the air as his Venezuela teammates emptied from the dugout to celebrate at home plate.
Not too long after, Venezuela was officially on the top of the baseball world.
Suarez’s go-ahead double in the ninth inning lifted Venezuela to a 3-2 win over the United States in the World Baseball Classic final on Tuesday at Miami’s loanDepot park.
It’s Venezuela’s first World Baseball Classic title in six iterations of the tournament. Japan has won three times (2006, 2009, 2023), while the Dominican Republic (2013) and United States (2017) have won once each.
The United States tied the game in the eighth inning on a Bryce Harper two-run home run before Venezuela put together one final offensive surge.
It started with a Luis Arraez leadoff walk. Javier Sanoja, the Miami Marlins’ super-utility player who had spent the first eight innings serving as Venezuela’s hype man in the dugout, entered as a pinch-runner and promptly stole second base.
Then Suarez had his go-ahead double that drove in Sanoja. It was just his fourth hit of the tournament but his third that went for extra bases after also hitting a pair of home runs.
Venezuela’s catcher Salvador Perez (13) scores after Maikel Garcia hits a sacrifice fly to center field as United States catcher Will Smith (16) looks towards the infield in the third inning of the final game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic against the United States at loanDepot park on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
Third baseman Maikel Garcia opened scoring for Venezuela with a third-inning sacrifice fly that plated catcher and Venezuela captain Salvador Perez, who led off the inning with a single before moving to second on a Ronald Acuna Jr. walk and third on a wild pitch.
Abreu then doubled his country’s lead two innings later with his second home run of the tournament, crushing a middle-middle fastball from United States starting pitcher Nolan McLean and sending it 414 feet to center field.
That almsot turned out to be enough offense for Venezuela as its pitching staff held a vaunted USA offense — one with a combined 28 All-Star nods, 14 Silver Slugger awards and five MVP honors amongst its starting lineup — to just two hits and two walks through the first seven innings.
Venezuela pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (52) pitches against the United States in the first inning during the final game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic at loanDepot park on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
It started with Rodriguez, a 10-year MLB veteran with a career 4.19 ERA, giving up just one hit (a Brice Turang single) and one walk (to Kyle Schwarber) while pitching into the fifth inning. He had four strikeouts, including two to Aaron Judge. He received a rousing standing ovation from the Venezuela-heavy crowd at loanDepot park when manager Omar Lopez took him out of the game.
Venezuela’s bullpen, which was dominant in its quarterfinal upset over defending champion Japan on Saturday and its semifinal win against tournament darling Italy on Monday, picked up where Rodriguez left off.
Eduard Bazardo got the final two outs in the fifth. Jose Butto worked around a two-out single to Harper in the sixth by getting Judge to ground out to third base. Angel Zerpa got two outs in the seventh before issuing a walk to Roman Anthony. Andres Machado entered and stranded Anthony by getting Will Smith to pop out.
Machado returned for the eighth and got two quick outs before walking Bobby Witt Jr. and giving up the home run to Harper — a 432-foot shot to straightaway center.
And then Venezuela rallied in the top of the ninth and Daniel Palencia closed it with a shutout bottom of the ninth.
The United States, meanwhile, has to settle for runner-up for a second consecutive tournament after losing to Japan in 2023.
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 10:54 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.