{"id":625985,"date":"2026-03-16T05:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T05:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/625985\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T05:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T05:06:07","slug":"usa-beat-dominicans-to-reach-world-baseball-classic-final-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/625985\/","title":{"rendered":"USA beat Dominicans to reach World Baseball Classic final | National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony smashed solo home runs and the United States edged the Dominican Republic 2-1 on Sunday to reach the World Baseball Classic final.<\/p>\n

Both blasts came in the fourth inning and provided all the scoring the Americans needed as starter Paul Skenes and five relief pitchers baffled the big-hitting Dominican lineup.<\/p>\n

“Just put an emphasis on getting in early, being ready to hit,” Anthony said of his decisive homer.<\/p>\n

“It was about going out there and getting a good pitch to hit. When I hit it, I kind of just blacked out. In my head was just, ‘Please go.'”<\/p>\n

The Americans advanced to Tuesday’s championship match, where they will face Monday’s semi-final winner between unbeaten Italy and upstart Venezuela, which dethroned defending champion Japan in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

“Just continue to be relentless, continue to do what we’ve been doing so well,” Anthony said of the US strategy for the final.<\/p>\n

It will be a third consecutive Classic final for the United States, which won the 2017 crown before losing the 2023 final to Japan.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Skenes scattered six hits and struck out two while allowing only one run over 4 1\/3 innings. Relievers struck out six with only one walk while allowing only two hits.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t the prettiest or cleanest game I’ve ever pitched,” Skenes said.<\/p>\n

“It’s unbelievable. Coming into the game, just wanted to put up as many zeroes as possible and put us in a position to win. Everybody else did their job.”<\/p>\n

Dominican pitchers struck out US batters 15 times but Dominican Republic stranded seven base runners, thwarted time and again in bids to plate the tying run.<\/p>\n

Both squads of Major League Baseball stars, with a combined 12 Most Valuable Player trophies and more than 50 all-star selections, delivered an epic showdown in an electric atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Dominican sluggers, who outscored rivals 51-10 in prior Classic play, tagged Skenes early.<\/p>\n

Junior Caminero, the Dominican designated hitter, smacked a solo homer to left field on a two-out, two-strike pitch in the second inning to give the Dominicans a 1-0 lead with a record 15th homer in this year’s Classic.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Spielberg
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Conservative
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

The Americans threatened in the third when Bobby Witt Jr. singled and took third base on Bryce Harper’s double down the right-field line.<\/p>\n

But right-hander Luis Severino struck out Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber, ending the inning on his sixth strikeout.<\/p>\n

Henderson bashed his homer to right field in the fourth and Severino was replaced by left-hander Gregory Soto, who then surrendered Anthony’s homer for the game’s final run.<\/p>\n

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled off the left-field wall in the fourth and the Dominicans loaded the bases before Austin Wells flew out to left field to end the threat.<\/p>\n

Julio Rodriguez made a leaping grab at the centerfield wall to rob Judge of a homer in the fifth.<\/p>\n

– Dominicans thwarted –<\/p>\n

Fernando Tatis and Ketel Marte hit back-to-back singles in the fifth to send Skenes to the showers but reliever Tyler Rogers got Juan Soto to hit into an inning-ending double play.<\/p>\n

The Dominicans threatened again in the seventh on a one-out double to right field by Wells, who reached third on a Geraldo Perdomo single.<\/p>\n

But US relief pitcher David Bednar struck out Tatis and Marte to again frustrate the Caribbeans.<\/p>\n

“It came down to ‘Not today,’ and finding a way by any means, just getting the job done for the boys,” Bednar said.<\/p>\n

American pitcher Garrett Whitlock retired the heart of the Dominican batting order 1-2-3 in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n

US closer Mason Miller entered in the intense ninth and walked Rodriguez with one out. Rodriguez took second on a wild pitch by Miller and\u00a0third on a ground out by pinch-hitter Oneil Cruz.<\/p>\n

With the game up for grabs, Miller retired Perdomo on a called third strike and the Americans celebrated their spot in the championship game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony smashed solo home runs and the United States edged the Dominican Republic 2-1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[42644,2315,2309,5,2316,2323,2317,2313,2340,2325,2331,2335,134,14998,1327,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,2307,877,2320,4101,185,2324,811,2350,2311,2312,4820],"class_list":["post-625985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-afp","tag-athletic-sports","tag-ball-and-bat-games","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-competitions","tag-baseball-events","tag-baseball-games","tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","tag-baseball-positions","tag-baseball-teams","tag-batting-order-baseball","tag-home-run","tag-juan-soto","tag-julio-rodrguez","tag-luis-severino","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","tag-major-league-baseball-teams","tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-outdoor-sports","tag-paul-skenes","tag-pitcher","tag-relief-pitcher","tag-sports","tag-sports-events","tag-starting-pitcher","tag-strikeout","tag-team-sports","tag-turf-sports","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}