There was only one game, so let’s get right to it.
United States 2, Dominican Republic 1
I’ll admit, I was a little biased here. I wanted to see the United States come out and destroy the Dominican Death Star, hoping they would continue marching towards a WBC title. However, in my heart of hearts, I kind of thought there was no way it was going to happen. Even with Paul Skenes on the mound for at least four innings, my thought was that the Dominican lineup would eventually rise up against the bullpen
of the United States and pound them into dust.
I was quite wrong.
A game fraught with tension, it got off to an unspectacular start as both starters, Skenes and Luis Severino, came out and handled the lineups. Skenes made one mistake to Junior Caminero that the Rays third baseman did not miss.
However, from there, Skenes shut the lineup down. He was helped by an outstanding throw from Aaron Judge to end an inning at third base.
Now, while Severino was great to start the game, eventually the adrenaline he was fueled by ran out and he started missing more often. Gunnar Henderson took one of those misses and hit a moonshot to left to tie the game at one.
Once Severino was removed in that inning and replaced with Gregory Soto, it looked as though the game would settle into a battle of the bullpens. Soto being Soto, however, he missed with a fastball to Roman Anthony and Anthony did not miss it.
The game continued like this, the United States up 2-1. Instead of the offense on display, it was the defense that sparkled in this game. In addition to his throw at third, Judge also had a diving catch to rob a hit off the bat of Juan Soto. The favor was returned in the sixth when Judge hit a drive to center that was robbed by Julio Rodriguez.
It was the seventh where the game was decided. David Bednar was brought into the game to start the inning and allowed two runners on, those two both getting into scoring position with two outs. Bednar, though, got Ketel Marte swinging to end the frame and kept the U.S. out in front. In the ninth, the Dominican lineup mustered some noise against Mason Miller, but the Padres closer was able to keep them in check, striking out Geraldo Perdomo to end the game.
Or did he?
I’ll expect to see ABS in the next round of the WBC.
The United States wins this round and moves on to the final while the Dominican Republic wonders what might have been.
