MIAMI (AP) — Venezuelan players danced in the cave before the first pitch, and then rallied from behind against Italy to reach the first World Baseball Classic final in their country’s history.
Ronald Acuña Jr., Maikel García, and Luis Arráez delivered run-scoring singles with two outs in a seventh-inning rally that propelled Venezuela to a 4-2 win over Italy on Monday night and sent them to the World Classic final for the first time.
The players celebrated in the clubhouse before quickly shifting their focus to the championship.
“Lots of dancing,” García said. “We have to show the world what Venezuela is.”
Before every World Classic game, the Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the cave, a style of Afro-Venezuelan music and dance known as la cista. They form a circle and they shake, sing and enchant as they prepare to take the field in their country’s yellow, red and blue.
“That’s who we are. That’s our country,” said manager Omar López. “That’s winter baseball. This is how we enjoy our baseball.”
Who’s the best on the drum?
“Honestly, I think my cousin is the best dancer,” García said in the postgame interview room, turning toward Acuña, who sat beside him and laughed at his relative’s remark.
Eduardo Rodríguez will start for Venezuela Tuesday night against Nolan McLean of the United States. Because both teams were 5-1, a coin flip earlier on Monday determined the home team, and the United States won it.
The players avoided discussing the political tensions between the United States and Venezuela.
“We’re here to talk about baseball,” Acuña said. “Our country deserves tomorrow’s game.”
Venezuela erased a 2-0 deficit in the fourth inning after overcoming a three-run hole to defeat the defending champion Japan in the quarterfinals and reach the final for the first time, after losing to South Korea in their only prior semifinal appearance in 2009.
In 2023, Venezuela squandered a two-run lead in the eighth inning and fell 9-7 to the United States in the quarterfinals in Miami, when Trea Turner delivered a grand slam in the eighth.
“Baseball gives you this kind of opportunity,” Acuña said. “Life is so ironic.”
Italy, the first European nation to reach a World Classic semifinal, came into the tournament with a 5-0 mark and drew attention with an espresso-drinking ritual after home runs and celebrations of victory with Italian wine.
But a team with three players born in Italy, a handful of Major Leaguers and many from the minor leagues could not hold onto the lead late as a batting order for Venezuela produced three straight RBIs from All-Stars, while a full, pro-Venezuela crowd roared at loanDepot Park.
“In three years they’re going to take us seriously,” Italy’s manager, the Venezuelan 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.”
Italy went ahead in the second when Keider Montero drove in a run by drawing three consecutive bases-loaded walks, the last to J.J. D’Orazio. Dante Nori batted in a run with an RBI groundout with one out, the first of six relievers who combined to hold a five-hit game for their pitcher.
Eugenio Suárez’s homer in the fourth inning off Aaron Nola sparked the rally, and the winner Ángel Zerpa escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when he threw a sinker on the outer edge that filleted Sam Antonacci.
Acuña slid through the gap at short and beat Antonacci’s throw from the outfield grass as the trailing runner, Andrés Giménez, scored. García delivered a line drive to left on a 2-0 pitch, bringing home Chourio with the go-ahead run, and Arráez lined a single on a full-count fastball to send Lorenzen from the game.
Daniel Palencia got three outs for the save, striking out Antonacci to end the game.
As the Venezuelans leaped and shouted, the Italian players spent 10 minutes in front of their cave embracing and saluting the fans. Captain Vinnie Pasquantino spoke of the millions believed to have watched the game on television in Italy, where the first pitch was thrown at 1:08 a.m. Tuesday.
“We didn’t have success on the field tonight, but we did have success in Italy,” he said. “And that’s what this is all about.”
