The Dominican Republic fell to Team USA in the semifinal of the World Baseball Classic. It was a heartbreaking end for the Dominican Republic, with the game ending on a bad strike call.
Despite the loss, Albert Pujols and Nelson Cruz are both finding the silver lining in the loss, according to Alden Gonzalez and Jeff Passan of ESPN.
“I'm not going to focus on that last pitch,” Pujols said in Spanish. “This has been a tremendous game between two tremendous teams. I feel incredibly grateful for the guys who represented us in this Classic. Once more, we raised our flag high in this Classic and left our mark, and I think our country is very proud.”
The Dominican Republic had been one of the most dominant teams so far in the World Baseball Classic, scoring plenty of runs and having multiple games end in the mercy rule.
It was also a star-studded affair between the two teams. The two lineups have 56 All-Star games, plus 31 Silver Sluggers, nine Gold Gloves, five MVPS, and a Cy Young. The game was as close as it could be, coming down to the last at-bat in the bottom of the ninth. The Dominican Republic had the game-tying run on third base with two outs. On a 3-2 count, Geraldo Perdomo let a pitch go by him. The pitch was low, but was called a strike by the home plate umpire.
“It's part of the game,” Dominican Republic general manager Nelson Cruz told ESPN. “You lost by inches. We'll have ABS in a few years, so hopefully next time we can challenge plays like that. This event is really good for baseball. You have regular fans that love the game — and you have people who don't pay attention and you're attracting them.”
Both Cruz and Pujols decided to focus on the positive of the game, looking at how good the event is for baseball. This is a sentiment that was shared by Vinnie Pasquantino of Team Italy.
“Italy doesn't have the greatest development in baseball, and that's what we're trying to do right now. And if we continue to be successful with this — I mean, there was baseball being played at bistros and cafes in Italy tonight over there. That doesn't happen. Without the group that we have, it just doesn't happen,” Pasquantino said.
Team USA will face the winner of Italy and Venezuela in the WBC finals on Tuesday.
