Jorge Castillo
Multiple Authors
MIAMI — With one swing the nervous energy coursing through LoanDepot Park on Tuesday night flipped to pandemonium.
Bryce Harper had upended the World Baseball Classic final’s momentum for Team USA with one swat in the eighth inning, tying Venezuela when the Americans were flat all night long. The pro-Venezuela crowd went quiet. That didn’t last long.
After Luis Arraez drew a walk to lead off the ninth inning, and after pinch-runner Javier Sanoja barely stole second base, Eugenio Suárez swatted the most important hit of his career, a go-ahead double that proved the difference in Venezuela’s 3-2 victory.
Daniel Palencia then sealed Venezuela’s first ever WBC championship by retiring the American side in order, closing the door with a 99.7 mph fastball to strike out Roman Anthony and ignite an emotional celebration as a stunned Team USA, three years after losing 3-2 to Japan in the WBC final, watched.
The teams entered Tuesday with identical 5-1 tournament records. Venezuela dropped its final Pool D game against the mighty Dominican Republic before consecutive comeback wins over Japan, the defending champion, and Italy, the tournament’s Cinderella entrant, to reach its first ever WBC final. The U.S. lost to Italy in Pool B play before narrowly defeating Canada and the Dominican Republic to advance to the championship game for the third straight WBC.
The finalists walked onto the field in a single file from each outfield corner to line up along each baseline during an elaborate pregame ceremony that used projection mapping on the outfield turf to recap the tournament, from pool play through the semifinals. The United States, with captain Aaron Judge in front carrying the American flag, strolled in from left field as the home team after winning a coin flip for the edge on Monday. Venezuela, with Arraez as their flagbearer, marched in from right field.
They arrived to play a game between baseball powers when it was impossible to ignore the recent political tumult between the two countries.
On Jan. 3, the United States successfully conducted a military strike to capture Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They were transported to the U.S. and charged with crimes while Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president, became acting president of Venezuela. Maduro and Flores remain in U.S. custody.
“Tonight everyone is going to be together,” Venezuela manager Omar López said before the game. “The whole country is going to be paralyzed to watch the game, and together we are going to have better generations for our country, united with no color, political colors or ideology.”
The Miami metropolitan area, fittingly, holds the highest concentration of Venezuelan immigrants in the United States with over 250,000 — a population that has sharply increased over the last decade. Thousands of them populated the ballpark to support their national team, drowning out the Team USA faithful with screams, chants, and instruments. They exploded in the third inning when Maikel Garcia’s sacrifice fly off U.S. starter Nolan McLean scored Salvador Perez, who led off with a single, for the game’s first run.
López said he started the 35-year-old Pérez over William Contreras, a two-time All-Star in his prime, behind the plate partly because Tuesday could have been his final chance to represent the country. A new insurance provision for this year’s tournament prevented players from having their contracts insured after their 37th birthday. The stipulation kept Los Angeles Dodgers utilityman Miguel Rojas from playing for Venezuela. Pérez turns 37 in May 2027.
“I said, ‘Damn. This is Salvador’s time,'” López said before the game. “And this is a very special moment for him to help Venezuela to become champion and say, ‘Well, I can retire now. I can go home. I did what I could for Venezuela.'”
This was Pérez’s fourth WBC. Wilyer Abreu was one of Venezuela’s players on the other end, making his WBC debut this year. The Boston Red Sox outfielder’s go-ahead, three-run home run to the upper deck was the difference in Sunday’s upset win over Japan. On Tuesday, in the biggest game of his life, he doubled Venezuela’s early edge with a blast to straightaway center field for a solo home run.
The two-run difference somehow appeared too vast for the explosive Americans. Team USA, after scoring two runs in their semifinal win, was lifeless at the plate again. Veteran left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, coming off posting a 5.02 ERA with the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, shut them down over 4⅓ innings.
Three relievers — Eduard Bazardo, Jose Butto and Angel Zerpa — followed and kept the shutout intact. Through seven innings, the Americans were 9-for-56 with 21 strikeouts over the last two games. Then, finally, they came to life in the eighth inning when, after Bobby Witt Jr. worked a leadoff walk, Harper smashed a fat 93 mph changeup from Andres Machado over the wall in center field to tie the game.
Harper admired the missile and smoothly launched his bat toward the U.S. dugout. He looked into a camera as he reached home plate, pointed to the American flag on his left sleeve, and pumped his fist when touched home. Harper had been 5-for-27 with eight strikeouts in the tournament. The performance drew criticism, as did manager Mark DeRosa’s decision to keep him in the lineup’s two-hole. The faith in the two-time MVP bore fruit. Harper had his WBC moment. Within minutes it was long forgotten.
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