Ronald Acuña Jr. had some PAs he probably wishes he could re-do, but came through with a game-tying infield single, extending a two-out rally that propelled Venezuela past Italy and into the finals.
Venezuela 4, Italy 2. Italian center fielder Jakob Marsee was all over the top of the first, robbing Acuña on a hard smash and then doubling off Maikel Garcia after catching Luis Arraez’ soft dunker into center. He also hit into an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the frame.
Keider Montero got
through that first frame okay for Venezuela, but really struggled in the second, issuing three straight walks after a hard-hit one-out single to push Italy’s first run across. Onetime Braves farmhand Ricardo Sanchez came on and got a couple of groundouts to end the jam, but the first one of those scored Italy’s second run.
Meanwhile, Venezuela wasn’t doing much against Aaron Nola. William Contreras drew a leadoff walk in the third, but Nola got a pop-out, and froze Acuña with a hanging curve for strike three. Garcia then hit a hard grounder right at the shortstop for the third out. Venezuela got to Nola in the fourth, as Eugenio Suarez leaned over the plate and yanked an outside curveball (to be clear, outside the zone, not even on the outer part of the zone) into left-center to make it a one-run game. There it would remain, for a while, as both teams got a few baserunners here and there but couldn’t push any across. Acuña popped out against Michael Lorenzen with one out and a runner on second in the fifth, and Garcia followed with yet another hard grounder to shortstop.
Italy threatened in the sixth, loading the bases on a single, walk, and infield single, but Angel Zerpa struck out Sam Antonacci looking. That set up the fateful rally against Lorenzen.
Gleyber Torres drew a leadoff walk, but Lorenzen struck out the next two. A hard grounder single from Jackson Chourio pushed Torres to third, and then Acuña hit a hard grounder to the left side. Antonacci made a diving stop, but his throw to first was a wormkiller that Acuña easily beat out, tying the game. Garcia then followed with something other than a hard grounder to short, lifting the ball softly to left where it found grass and made it a 3-2 game. Arraez followed with a successful dunker up the middle, scoring Acuña and chasing Lorenzen, but the damage was done.
There were no more baserunners the rest of the game: Eduardo Bazardo, Andres Machado, and Daniel Palencia each threw a perfect frame, with five strikeouts between them. The Venezuelan relief corps came through overall, with an 8/2 K/BB ratio over 7 2/3. Lorenzen’s 2/2 K/BB ratio in 2 2/3, as well as the combination of luck and not-quite-there defense that helped Venezuela’s rally, ultimately did in Italy.
Venezuela will now face Team USA in the final on Tuesday night. The nominal pitching matchup is Eduardo Rodriguez versus Nolan McLean, but you know it’ll be all hands on deck as much as possible.
