Venezuela rallies past Italy and will face US for world title

The Venezuela team celebrates after defeating Italy at a World Baseball Classic semifinal game [AP Photo]

Venezuelan players danced in the dugout before the first pitch, then pranced past Italy and into their nation’s first World Baseball Classic final.

Ronald Acuña Jr., Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez hit run-scoring, two-out singles in a rapid seventh-inning rally that sparked a 4-2 victory Monday night and vaulted Venezuela into a title matchup against the United States.

Players celebrated in the clubhouse before quickly turning focus to the final.

“A lot of dancing,” Garcia said. “We have to show the world who Venezuela is.”

Before each WBC game, Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the dugout for the tambor, coastal Afro-Venezuelan music and dance. They circle and shake, chant and enchant as they prepare to take the field in their nation’s yellow, red and blue.

“That’s us. That’s our country,” manager Omar López said. “That’s winter ball. That’s how we enjoy our baseball.”

And who is tops at the tambor?

“Honestly, I think my cousin is the best dancer,” Garcia said in the postgame interview room, turning to Acuña, who was seated next to him and laughed at his relative’s remark.

Eduardo Rodríguez is slated to start tomorrow [Macau time] against the Americans’ Nolan McLean. Because both teams are 5-1, a coin toss was held yesterday to determine the home team, and the U.S. won.

Players avoided discussing the political turmoil between the U.S. and Venezuela.

“We’re here to speak baseball,” Acuña said. “Our country deserves the game tomorrow.”

Venezuela overcame a 2-0, fourth-inning deficit after climbing out of a three-run hole to beat defending champion Japan in a quarterfinal. The Venezuelans reached the championship round for the first time after losing to South Korea in their only previous semifinal appearance in 2009.

In 2023, Venezuela wasted a two-run, eighth-inning lead in a 9-7 quarterfinal loss to the U.S. in Miami as Trea Turner hit an eighth-inning grand slam.

“Baseball gives you these kind of opportunities,” Acuña said. “Life is so ironic.”

Italy, the first European nation to reach a WBC semifinal, had been 5-0 in the tournament and sparked attention with an espresso-sipping ritual after home runs and victory celebrations featuring Italian wine.

But a team with three Italy-born players, a handful of major leaguers and many from the minors couldn’t hold a late-inning lead against a batting order that got three straight RBIs from All-Stars as a pro-Venezuelan sellout crowd of 35,382 at loanDepot park roared.

“In three years they are going to take us seriously,” Italy manager Francisco Cervelli said. “I just told the guys that they are the champions of this tournament. … They revolutionized Italy. They put another sport on the map.” RONALD BLUM, Baseball Writer, MDT/AP