Who would’ve believed that ? Co-favorites to win the 2023 World Baseball Classic title, the Dominicans, lost to the Venezuelans 5-1 in the Group D curtain-raiser yesterday.
It was Venezuela’s first ever win against the Dominican Republic. The atmosphere was festive at LoanDepot Park in Miami thanks to the fans of both teams, for whom this event has a special character.
Anthony Santander (Orioles) and veteran David Peralta (Dodgers) played heroes on the winning side, while the National’s last Cy Young Trophy recipient, Sandy Alcantara (Marlins), suffered the loss in his home stadium.
Santander carried their excellent 2022 season onto the pitch yesterday shining in defense as well as in attack. He hit a long ball past Alcantara to tie the game at 1-1 in the second inning and produced a pearl on defense in the eighth inning to preserve the lead for his team.
For his part, veteran David Peralta chased the Alcantara ace off the mound with a two-run hit in the fourth inning. At this point, the Venezuelans began to believe that they could cause a big upset in their first game of the tournament.
According to the manager of the Dominican formation, Rodney Linares, Alcantara was two shots from having a very good evening of work. Strikes from Santander and Peralta came to spoil the sauce and we know the rest.
On the mound for Venezuela, Rangers starter Martin Pérez did well by giving the powerful Dominicans only a small run in just over three innings of work, but the revelation of the game was the performance of teammate Luis Garcia (Astros), who dominated the opposing offense by striking out no less than seven in three innings on the mound.
It was the first time in World Classic history that a reliever had such a high total of strikeouts in a single game.
Jose Ruiz (White Sox) was credited with the win.
Limited to one point and six hits in this defeat, the Dominicans will want to make amends against Nicaragua on Monday, still in Miami.
The Venezuelan team will have little time to recover from their victory by crossing swords with that of Puerto Rico today. Pablo Lopez (Twins) will be their starting pitcher.
