Venezuela rallies past Italy to make first WBC final

MIAMI -- Ronald Acuña Jr. raced to first base, beat the throw from Team Italy shortstop Sam Antonacci, and didn't stop running.

Team Venezuela's superstar right fielder high-stepped his way another 90 feet down the right-field line, screaming for the second leg of his sprint while the thousands of compatriots around him joined in his outburst after his score-tying, infield RBI single Monday night.

His Venezuela teammates spilled out of the dugout, jumping and banging imaginary tamboras in celebration. Venezuela fans, who had filled LoanDepot Park hoping to watch their national team reach the World Baseball Classic final for the first time, boomed to an ear-piercing level.

Venezuela, behind its electric leadoff hitter, had finally broken through to draw even with Italy in the seventh inning of this WBC semifinal -- and it wasn't done. Maikel Garcia followed with a go-ahead RBI single and Luis Arraez added another one for insurance, doubling Venezuela's lead with a fourth straight two-out hits on the way to a historic 4-2 win.

Days after qualifying for the Olympics for the first time with its upset comeback victory over Japan in the quarterfinals, Venezuela, a proud baseball nation that has produced some of the world's best talents, will play for its first WBC championship against Team USA in a rematch of an intense 2023 quarterfinal meeting that the Americans won.

"We never lost confidence in the type of roster we had," Acuña said in Spanish. "We always stayed on the same page, and I think that's what carried us into the final."

Tension had been building for the Venezuelans during the middle innings as their offense sputtered. Italy, as it did all tournament during its surprising, espresso-fueled run to the country's first WBC semifinal, jumped out in front thanks to Venezuela starter Keider Montero's sudden control struggles in the second inning.

The right-hander yielded a one-out single to Zach Dezenzo before issuing three straight walks. The third, to J.J. D'Orazio with the bases loaded, pushed home the game's first run. Moments later, Dante Nori's fielder's choice groundout made it 2-0. That prompted Venezuela manager Omar López to pull Montero after 33 pitches over just 1⅓ innings, leaving his bullpen to record 23 outs to advance.

Six relievers, with López pushing the right buttons, shut down one of the tournament's top offenses, holding Italy to three hits and two walks over the final 7⅔ innings with eight strikeouts.

"We knew we had to be ready early. We didn't know what situation we were going to come in," Andres Machado, who logged a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts, said in Spanish. "Winning, losing, we could have entered. I think in the bullpen, that's what we understand. We're always ready. We don't have any specific roles. We just go out there to help the team in whatever way we can."

Aaron Nola did not encounter trouble starting for Italy, which entered the game as the tournament's only undefeated team at 5-0. Michael Lorenzen, who shut down the U.S. in pool play, was originally scheduled to start for Italy on Monday, but manager Francisco Cervelli, listening to his gut, decided to swap him out for Nola.

"It was me," Cervelli, who was born and raised in Venezuela, said in Spanish before the game. "Everyone is available, but I think Nola is the right person. That's my opinion, and I'm taking responsibility for my decisions."

The choice proved prescient. Nola held the mighty Venezuela lineup scoreless until slugger Eugenio Suarez launched an 80 mph knuckle curveball down and away over the left-field wall for a solo home run in the fourth inning. It was the only run Nola gave up Monday -- and the only run he surrendered across eight innings in his two WBC starts.

Cervelli's gut pushed him to then piggyback Nola with Lorenzen in the fifth inning, sacrificing his best option to start in Tuesday's championship game against the U.S. to increase his team's chances of getting there. Lorenzen began his relief appearance by walking William Contreras to bring up Jackson Chourio, the Brewers' budding star outfielder.

Instead of letting Chourio, Venezuela's overqualified No. 9 hitter, inflict damage, López instructed him to advance Contreras with a bunt. Chourio did his job, but the next two batters -- Acuña and Garcia -- did not, leaving Contreras at second base as Lorenzen danced around the self-inflicted trouble to hold Italy's one-run lead.

The seventh inning was a different story. Gleyber Torres worked a leadoff walk before he was replaced by pinch runner Andres Gimenez. Lorenzen then struck out Wilyer Abreu and Contreras, pulling himself to the brink of another escape. But Chourio laced a single to center field, advancing Gimenez from first to third and igniting the barrage that fueled Venezuela's trip to the title game.

Acuña attacked Lorenzen's first pitch, hitting a 97.7 mph groundball just deep enough into the hole to make the play too difficult for Antonacci to make on time. Garcia, coming off a breakout All-Star season with the Kansas City Royals, then laced a line drive to center field to give Venezuela the lead for good before Arraez, a three-time batting champion, landed the final two-out blow.

Next up for Venezuela is a date with the star-studded U.S. team in the American city with the highest concentration of Venezuela natives 2½ months after the United States launched a military strike to capture Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Jan. 3. Veteran left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will get the start for Venezuela opposite right-hander Nolan McLean, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. The U.S., after winning a tiebreaking coin flip, will be the home team.

"A lot of dancing," Garcia said. "We've never been in the championship of the WBC before. We got there, and we're happy, we're excited to play tomorrow against the United States. We have to come tomorrow and play the same way we played against Japan and Italy. We have to show the world who Venezuela is."

The Venezuelans will enter as heavy underdogs despite featuring their own stars for a team that is without significant major league talent. Jose Altuve, Pablo López, Jesus Luzardo, Jose Alvarado and Miguel Rojas are among the high-profile major leaguers Venezuela expected to participate but didn't because of insurance issues, injury or, in Luzardo's case, a rejection to join the team after pool play.

Altuve, who was denied insurance, and López, who underwent Tommy John surgery last month, were in attendance Monday. They watched their country accomplish something it had never done, moving to within one win of a championship that has eluded Venezuela thanks to its superstar's scamper.

"This is No. 1 for me in my career," said Acuña, the 2023 NL MVP and a five-time All-Star with the Atlanta Braves. "I love Atlanta a lot, but before I played in Atlanta, I was born in Venezuela. Venezuela made Ronald Acuña Jr."