Sunday night in Miami — Team USA delivered one of the most thrilling games in World Baseball Classic history.
In a semifinal rife with tension and the kind of baseball that makes the sport great, Team USA outlasted the Dominican Republic two to one at loanDepot Park — advancing to the World Baseball Classic finals for the third straight time.
Pirates ace Paul Skenes wasn’t dominant — but he was brilliant when it mattered most, holding arguably the best lineup ever assembled to just one run over four and a third innings. Gunnar Henderson led off the fourth with a 400-foot blast to tie it, and then Roman Anthony — a minor leaguer who once bought a ticket to watch the last WBC finals in this very building — crushed a go-ahead solo shot to give the Americans a two to one lead.
Closer Mason Miller slammed the door in the ninth, stranding the tying run at third to finish it off.
On the other side of the bracket, Venezuela pulled off a stunning upset of defending champion Japan — meaning Team USA will face either Italy or Venezuela in Tuesday night’s championship game at eight o’clock Eastern on FOX.
Yes — that same Italy squad that stunned the Americans in pool play could be waiting in the final.
Tuesday night — it all comes down to this.
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