For the first time in World Baseball Classic history, Venezuela will play for the tournament title.
Venezuela topped Italy, the WBC’s Cinderella team, 4-2 on Monday night to advance to the final against the United States behind a three-run seventh inning and a strong showing from its bullpen.
In that decisive seventh, Venezuela used a two-out rally to take the lead. It started when Ronald Acuña Jr. beat out an infield single for an RBI, then continued with Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez adding on with RBI knocks of their own.
Italy broke out to an early lead in the second inning, when J.J. D’Orazio worked a bases-loaded walk and Dante Nori brought home another run with a fielder’s choice ground out.
But Venezuela chipped away with one run in the fourth, as Eugenio Suárez blasted a solo shot off Italy starter Aaron Nola to get on the board.
Nola finished with just the one run allowed in four innings of work while allowing just four hits.
And while Italy reliever Michael Lorezen kept the loaded Venezuelan offence in check for a couple of innings, the dam broke in the seventh.
Venezuela will now face Team USA in Tuesday’s final, where it will look to win its first WBC championship. The game can be seen on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT.
More to come.
