In a stunning seventh-inning rally, Venezuela secured its first-ever appearance in the World Baseball Classic championship game with a 4-2 victory over previously undefeated Italy on Monday night at Miami’s loanDepot park.
The Venezuelan squad, playing before a passionate pro-Venezuelan sellout crowd, mounted a dramatic comeback after trailing 2-0 through four innings. The game-changing sequence occurred in the seventh when Ronald Acuña Jr., Maikel Garcia, and Luis Arraez delivered consecutive run-scoring, two-out singles against Italian reliever Michael Lorenzen.
Italy, the first European nation to reach a WBC semifinal, had established an early lead in the second inning when Keider Montero issued three consecutive walks, the last forcing in a run against J.J. D’Orazio. Dante Nori added another run with a forceout against Venezuelan pitcher Ricardo Sánchez.
The Venezuelan comeback began with Eugenio Suárez’s fourth-inning home run off Aaron Nola. The critical defensive moment came in the sixth when reliever Ángel Zerpa escaped a bases-loaded jam by throwing a perfectly placed sinker past Sam Antonacci.
The seventh-inning rally began with Gleyber Torres drawing a walk, followed by Jackson Chourio’s two-out single that placed runners at the corners. Acuña then beat out an infield hit to score pinch-runner Andrés Giménez, Garcia lined a go-ahead single to left field, and Arraez completed the scoring with another run-scoring single.
Daniel Palencia secured the victory with a perfect three-out save, striking out Antonacci to end the game and send Venezuela to Tuesday’s championship matchup against the United States.