HOUSTON -- In the aftermath of the Dominican Republic's mercy-rule win over Korea to advance to the World Baseball Classic semifinals, Dominican fans at LoanDepot Park in Miami made clear what they wanted to see next, chanting: "Queremos a USA" -- we want the USA.
They got what they asked for.
The United States booked its spot in the WBC semifinals with a 5-3 victory against Canada on Friday night, setting up a dream clash between the two most talented teams in the tournament. National League Cy Young winner Paul Skenes will start for Team USA against the formidable Dominican lineup that has wrecked opposing pitchers, while A's right-hander Luis Severino is expected to face an American lineup big on names but not so much on production thus far.
"I expect it to be one of the best games of all-time," Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said.
The hype surrounding Sunday's 8 p.m. game in Miami will crescendo with the teams facing off in the WBC for the first time since 2017, when the U.S. ousted the D.R. in the quarterfinals en route to its only WBC title. The Dominican team has won just one as well, in 2013.
While the D.R. has outscored opponents 51-10 in its five WBC wins, the United States' struggles to score runs in recent games repeated itself Friday night and led to a tense contest against a Canadian team that last beat the U.S. in the WBC in 2006.
In front of 38,054 at Daikin Park, the U.S. went ahead 1-0 in the first inning on a run-scoring groundout by Kyle Schwarber and tacked on a pair of runs in the third when Canada third baseman Abraham Toro fielded a ground ball with the bases loaded and threw it over first baseman Josh Naylor's head. The Americans added two more run-scoring singles by Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong in the sixth inning, stretching their advantage to 5-0.
By then, U.S. starter Logan Webb had exited to a standing ovation, throwing 4⅔ shutout innings, seemingly leaving Team USA in good hands. With a near-equal mix of his excellent sinker, changeup and sweeper, Webb held Canada to four hits and struck out five over 71 pitches. He was replaced by Brad Keller, who allowed Canada's first run on a Tyler Black RBI single in the sixth inning. After Keller left, DeRosa turned to left-handed reliever Gabe Speier, who on his fifth pitch allowed a two-run home run to Canada catcher Bo Naylor to shrink Team USA's lead to 5-3.
The U.S. found trouble again an inning later. New York Yankees closer David Bednar allowed two infield singles, and a passed ball left the Americans facing runners on second and third with no outs. Canada captain Josh Naylor popped out to third baseman Alex Bregman on a middle-middle fastball. Tyler O'Neill struck out. And on a full count, Bednar got rookie Owen Caissie to chase a splitter, ending the threat. Boston setup man Garrett Whitlock and San Diego closer Mason Miller secured the final six outs for the United States.
After putting up 24 runs against Brazil and Great Britain in its first two WBC games, Team USA's offense has been mostly stagnant. Its five runs against Mexico came in one inning. Its six runs against Italy came after it faced an 8-0 deficit. And against a Canadian team that started big leaguer Michael Soroka but spent the last 6⅓ innings throwing minor league arms, its bats struggled.
"If we're going to win this tournament, like we all believe we're going to, it's going to take more than home runs," United States captain Aaron Judge said. "If there's times where we're not hitting home runs, we've got to play small ball, we've got to move runners, we've got to do different things just to create some offense."
The D.R. has found no such issues, batting .312/.453/.637 as a team and slugging 14 home runs, tied for the most by one team in the 20-year history of the WBC.
"They're young, they're talented," Team USA first baseman Bryce Harper said. "One through nine of that lineup, they can all go deep. They can all hit for average. It's one of the best countries in the world for baseball, so you expect them to be great, and that's what they're doing."
Skenes offers hope for the U.S. He threw four near-perfect innings against Team USA's 5-3 victory against Mexico in pool play, and DeRosa said he expects him to log 75 to 80 pitches -- shy of the 95 that pitchers are allowed to throw in semifinal and final games.
"I like any game that Paul Skenes pitches," Judge said. "It's just incredible stuff."
