Baseball: U.S. bullpen shines in WBC semifinal win over Dominican Republic

MIAMI, Florida, Mar 16 (Kyodo/APP): Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes tossed 4-1/3 innings of one-run ball, and the U.S. bullpen was virtually flawless the rest of the way in a tense 2-1 semifinal win over the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic on Sunday.

Junior Caminero’s second-inning solo home run was the only scoring that the Dominican Republic’s superstar batting lineup could muster in front of 36,337 at Miami’s loanDepot park as the United States advanced to its third straight WBC final.

Manager Mark DeRosa’s squad turned the game around with solo home runs from Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony in the top of the fourth, while five U.S. relievers yielded just two hits and a walk as they combined for 4-2/3 shutout frames.

Tampa Bay Rays infielder Caminero broke the ice with his blast to left center field off Skenes’ high sweeper over the outside corner of the plate.

Henderson tied it with his big fly to right center off Dominican starter Luis Severino before Anthony delivered a 421-foot go-ahead bomb to center field against reliever Gregory Soto (0-1).

Julio Rodriguez prevented Aaron Judge from adding to the U.S. total in the fifth when he robbed the New York Yankees superstar of a home run at the wall behind center field.

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Skenes (2-0) left the mound with one out and two on in the fifth before reliever Tyler Rogers got his team out of danger by getting Juan Soto to ground into a double play.

“It makes it a lot easier to be a starting pitcher when you can get to the fifth inning. That’s the nature of this tournament,” Skenes said. “The innings are limited for starting pitchers, and you can hand the ball off pretty confidently that the bullpen’s going to get the job done, and they’ve done a great job.”

U.S. reliever David Bednar pitched out of a one-out jam with runners on second and third, striking out Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte back-to-back to end the seventh inning.

Closer Mason Miller struck out Geraldo Perdomo on a contentious called strike to seal the win and send his team into Tuesday’s championship game against the winner of Monday’s semifinal between Italy and Venezuela.

Dominican Republic skipper Albert Pujols did not dwell on the umpire’s call after the game, instead paying tribute to his players for a performance of which their country “should feel proud.”

“I am not going to focus on that last pitch,” Pujols said. “It was a huge game between two huge teams, and I’m super proud for the guys that represented us in this Classic.”