“It’s bigger and better than the World Series,” the United States captain said after a 2-1 semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic that went down to the final pitch Sunday night. “The passion these fans have for representing their country, representing some of their favorite players, there’s nothing like it.”
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The American tradition that emphasizes underestimation on a team led by Judge and Bryce Harper showed itself against the Latin style on a team with Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. When Junior Caminero homered against Paul Skenes to put the Dominicans ahead in the second inning, he celebrated with a bat.
In the sixth tournament of an event that began in 2006, the game featured starting lineups with 17 All-Stars with a total of 56 selections among the starting 20. They had won five MVP awards, one Cy Young, five Rookie of the Year awards and three batting titles.
Before a crowd of 36,337 at IoanDepot Park, the United States overcame the deficit with fourth-inning home runs by Gunnar Henderson off Luis Severino and Roman Anthony off Gregory Soto.
Anthony, at 21 the youngest American player, had bought a ticket to the 2023 WBC final in Miami and watched from the seats as Japan beat the United States 3-2.
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“Coming here to the WBC, you dream of representing this country and being here next time,” Anthony said.
The American relievers allowed two hits in 4 2/3 scoreless innings, capped by Mason Miller topping 100 mph on 13 of 22 pitches. Miller’s last shot appeared to be low for the fourth ball toward Geraldo Perdomo, but home plate umpire Cory Blaser emphatically called strike three.
“Just a game we’ll remember forever, right?” said American manager Mark DeRosa. “We understood that this was going to be a game that was going to be talked about, probably one of the most watched games of all time.”
Dynamic defense was common.
With the United States trailing by one run in the third, Judge launched a 95.7 mph strike from right field to third base to cut off Fernando Tatis Jr. for the final out of the inning. Judge then made a diving catch to rob Soto, his former New York Yankees teammate, in the fourth.
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Julio Rodríguez denied Judge a home run with a leaping catch off the center field wall in the fifth, 407 feet from the plate.
“I thought, OK, maybe we have a chance here,” Judge recalled. “But give a guy like J-Rod, who is one of the best, if not the best, center fielder in the game, he’ll make exciting plays like that in the big moments.”
Shortstop Bobby Witt headed to the right field side of the infield to catch Soto’s slow rebound in the fifth, ran back to touch second base and made an off-balance throw to first for a double play that ended the inning. An inning later, Witt threw out Manny Machado at first off the outfield grass.
The launch moments were also memorable.
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Dominican starter Luis Severino stranded runners at second and third in the third inning when he struck out Judge and Kyle Schwarber, and Skenes escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth when Austin Wells flied out.
Wells doubled with one out in the seventh and the relatively slow catcher was kept at third on Perdomo’s single to Crow-Armstrong in center field. David Bednar then struck out Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte by breaking balls below the strike zone.
Before Miller took strike three in the ninth, Perdomo had fouled out on a pair of full-count pitches.
“The whole world saw some of the best players in the game on two teams,” said Dominican coach Albert Pujols, a likely future Hall of Famer.
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The rosters included 18 of the 41 players who received MVP votes last year.
Judge gave a postgame speech to his teammates, ahead of Tuesday’s championship against Venezuela or Italy. I had sensed from the beginning a special night on Sunday.
“It gives you chills standing there on the line, hearing them announce all the names,” he said. “It was like they had an All-Star team there.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB