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World Baseball Classic: Venezuela beats Italy with 3-run, 7th-inning rally to advance and face Team USA in final
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Venezuela will play the United States for the 2026 World Baseball Classic title after rallying for a 4-2 victory over Italy in the semifinal Monday in Miami. It’ll mark Venezuela’s first appearance in the WBC final.
The U.S. defeated the Dominican Republic 2-1 in the semifinal played on Sunday.
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Italy takes early lead in semifinal
Italy took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a bases-loaded walk issued by Venezuela starter Keider Montero. He allowed a one-out single to Zach Dezenzo, then walked Jac Caglianone and Andrew Fischer to load the bases. Facing J.J, D’Orazio, Montero got to a two-ball, two-strike count but then missed badly with pitches low and out of the zone.
That chased Montero from the game, and Italy added another run versus reliever Ricardo Sánchez on a Dante Nori groundout.
Venezuela broke through against Italy starting pitcher Aaron Nola in the fourth inning, when Eugenio Suárez yanked a low, outside curveball into the left-field seats for a solo home run.
Nola, who was tabbed for the start earlier Tuesday in place of Michael Lorenzen, pitched four innings and allowed only Suárez’s home run among four hits. He struck out three Venezuelans.
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Italy’s pitching strategy backfires
The original plan for Italy manager Francisco Cervelli appeared to be to start Lorenzen in Tuesday’s championship game against Team USA. But managing aggressively, he brought Lorenzen in to relieve Nola in the fifth inning with a one-run lead to protect.
That plan seemed to be working until the top of the seventh. Gleyber Torres drew a leadoff walk, but Lorenzen struck out Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras and was on the verge of avoiding trouble. Then Jackson Chourio singled on a first-pitch fastball, and Andrés Giménez, pinch-running for Torres, advanced to third.
Lorenzen got Ronald Acuña Jr. to hit a grounder to shortstop, but Italy’s Sam Antonacci had to go toward the outfield grass to field the ball. From the deep hole, he couldn’t get enough on his throw, bouncing it near second base before the throw reached first. Acuña beat the throw, and Giménez scored the tying run.
Maikel Garcia followed with a single to left field to drive in Chourio for a 3-2 Venezuela lead. Then Luis Arraez hit a high, outside fastball to score Acuña, putting Venezuela on top 4-2 and knocking Lorenzen out of the game.
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All told, four consecutive two-out hits resulted in three runs. And Cervelli’s decision to piggyback Lorenzen on Lola’s start backfired.
Lorenzen finished with three runs allowed on four hits and two walks, recording two strikeouts.
Venezuela’s bullpen handcuffs Italy
Throughout the WBC, Venezuela’s bullpen has been better than its starting rotation. That proved true again after Montero left the game, beginning with Ricardo Sánchez pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Five more relievers followed to keep Italy off the board for the final six innings. In total, the Venezuela bullpen allowed only three hits while recording eight strikeouts.
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Prior to losing the lead, Italy squandered its best chance to add insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Relief pitcher Angel Zerpa took over for Luinder Avila with one runner on and one out. The left-hander struck out Fischer before intentionally walking D’Orazio.
Dante Nori then hit an infield single to load the bases. Zerpa recovered to strike out Antonacci on four pitches to escape the jam.
Italy didn’t get a hit through the remaining three innings against Eduard Bazardo, Andrés Machado and Daniel Palencia. Palencia recovered from falling behind with a 3-1 count on Antonacci, getting him to swing and miss on 98- and 99-mph fastballs to seal Venezuela’s win.
First pitch for the WBC final between Venezuela and the United States is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Tuesday at loanDepot Park in Miami.
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Check out the action from the Italy-Venezuela matchup and follow along with Yahoo Sports for the latest World Baseball Classic news:
The WBC concludes Tuesday with a star-studded matchup for the title.
Antonacci strikes out swinging, and Venezuela is advancing to the WBC final for the first time.
The Venezuelan bullpen came up huge, shutting down Italy’s offense across the final 7 innings, and the Venezuelan bats delivered a late, two-out rally to take this semifinal. Italy’s magical WBC run is over.
Nori goes down swinging at 99.2 mph, and Italy is down to its final out.
It’s back to the top of the order with Antonacci.
Ron Marinaccio throws a 1-2-3 top of the 9th, and it’s on to the Venezuelan bats’ last chances.
Daniel Palencia is trying to close it out for Venezuela. He gets a flyout from Brayan Rocchio for out No. 1.
The Venezuelan bats went quietly in the top of the eighth, and now Andrés Machado is on the mound to try to hold the Italian bats.
He gets a groundout from Dezenzo to start. And follows with strikeouts of Caglianone and Fischer. This game is headed to the 9th inning.
Jake Mintz
After seven sleepy innings, loanDepot Park has become a Venezuelan thunderdome. Four straight two-out hits for Venezuela just completely changed the tenor of this game.
With runners on the corners, Acuña legged out an infield single to tie things at 2. Then his cousin, Maikel Garcia, roped a knock into left for the lead. Luis Arraez finished the frame with some much-needed insurance on an RBI flair of his own.
Italy went down in order in the 7th, and now Venezuela and its stout bullpen is 6 outs away from the WBC final.
Eduard Bazardo puts the Italy batters down in order in the bottom of the 7th, and just like that, Venezuela is 6 outs away from a matchup with Team USA in the final.
Luis Arraez joins in the fun with another single — that’s four in a row with two outs — to score Acuña and move Garcia to third. It’s now 4-2 Venezuela, and Lorenzen’s night is done.
It felt like this game was going all Italy’s way, but that has changed dramatically here in the seventh inning.
Kyle Nicolas comes on in relief and finally gets the third out, but the damage is done.
Maikel Garcia lasers a single into left field, and Jackson Chourio comes around to score. It’s 3-2 Venezuela.
Acuña’s now on third, still with two outs.
A grounder off the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr. gets through the infield, and he beats the throw to first.
Andres Gimenez, pinch-running for Torres, scampers home, and this game is tied.
Gleyber Torres walked to begin the inning. Two strikeouts later, Jackson Chourio singled to put runners on first and third with two outs and Acuña up to bat.
A huge strikeout of Sam Antonacci from Angel Zerpa escapes the bases-loaded jam in the sixth and keeps the score 2-1.
Italy could’ve blown open this game right there. Instead, the Venezuelans are still just one score from tying it.
Dezenzo singles, and the Italians are looking for some insurance. Angel Zerpa is on the mound now for Venezuela. A groundout and a strikeout later, and it’s man on second with 2 outs.
Italy intentionally walks D’Orazio to face Nori, who hits an infield single, and it’s bases loaded.
In the top of the 5th, Italy turns to Michael Lorenzen after Nola completed 4 innings of 1-run ball.
Lorenzen begins with a 4-pitch walk to William Contreras, and then Jackson Chourio sacrifice bunts to put the tying run on second base with one out.
But Lorenzen gets out of it with a popout and a groundout.
It’s been a relatively quiet tournament from Eugenio Suárez, but he just put a charge into an 80.1-mph knuckle curve and halved Italy’s lead.
It’s 2-1 in the fourth, and the pro-Venezuela crowd is very much back in this.
Jake Mintz
A single, three straight walks and a fielder’s choice put Team Italy up 2-0 after two innings. Venezuela starter Keider Montero completely lost all feel for the zone and is already out of this game. Let the bullpen carousel begin.
That has been the story of Venezuela’s tournament thus far: mediocre starting pitching followed by stellar relief work. Their starting pitcher ERA is 6.28, the sixth-worst mark in the tournament. Their 1.76 bullpen ERA is tied for third-best.
Dante Nori grounds into a forceout at second, and that’s good enough to score another run.
The next batter, Sam Antonacci, grounds out to end the inning.
The first run of this game comes in on an RBI walk in the bottom of the second.
After a Zach Dezenzo single with one out, Venezuela starter Keider Montero walked three straight batters — Jac Caglianone, Andrew Fischer and J.J. D’Orazio — and that makes it 1-0 Italy.
That’s the end of Montero’s outing. Ricardo Sánchez is coming in to replace him, and it’s still bases loaded with one out.
Italy gets a baserunner on a Jon Berti single, but then Jakob Marsee grounds into a double play to end the inning.
Maikel Garcia hit a one-out single for the first baserunner of the game, but he gets doubled off first on a Luis Arraez liner.
