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Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony homered and the United States limited the Dominican Republic’s electric offense to win a thrilling semifinal 2-1 on Sunday and move one win from capturing its second World Baseball Classic championship.
The loaded American roster led by NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes, and featuring stars Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge, reached its third straight WBC title game after winning in 2017 and falling to Shohei Ohtani and Japan in 2023. The Americans will face the winner of Monday’s semifinal between Italy and Venezuela in Tuesday’s title game.
The Dominicans reached the semis for the first time since winning the WBC title in 2013, but missing the championship was not the goal for a roster that featured six players who finished among the top 10 in MVP voting last year and cruised through the early rounds of this WBC.
They faced their biggest test of the tournament against Skenes (2-0), who gave up one run on six hits through 4 1/3 innings, and the U.S. bullpen, which held the Dominicans scoreless the rest of the way.
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The Dominican Republic threatened in the ninth when Julio Rodríguez drew a walk and advanced to third against Mason Miller. With two outs, Miller struck out Geraldo Perdomo on a pitch that appeared to be well below the zone for his second save.
Junior Caminero hit a solo drive off Skenes in the second to give the Dominicans a record 15 homers in the tournament, surpassing the mark set by Mexico in 2009. He finished the tournament hitting .350.
The matchup between the two star-studded lineups didn’t fail to deliver big moments, especially on defense.
Judge got it started in the third with a 95.7 mph laser from right field to get Fernando Tatis Jr. at third. The Yankees All-Star then found himself on the other side of a huge defensive play in the fifth when Rodríguez — an inning after being hit on the wrist by a 98 mph fastball from Skenes — scaled the center-field wall to rob Judge of a home run.
Henderson, starting at third base over Alex Bregman, homered off Luis Severino to tie it in the fourth before Anthony hit the go-ahead homer, connecting on a 3-2 sinker from loser Gregory Soto.
