The Dominican Republic had a chance to advance to the World Baseball Classic Finals, but they couldn't get past Team USA. In fact, they fell as they got screwed at the end after a blown ball-strike call.
Home-plate umpire Cory Blaser called a full-count slider from U.S. closer Mason Miller for a strike against shortstop Geraldo Perdomo even though the pitch was below the zone.
“I knew 100% it was a ball. I knew it,” Perdomo said via ESPN's Jeff Passan.
“I'm not going to focus on that last pitch,” manager Albert Pujols said via ESPN's Alden Gonzalez. “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.”
Though the Dominican Republic could have held their heads on the loss, two hours after the game, they had smiles on their faces as they went to the team bus.
“We showed the world who's the best team in baseball,” Juan Soto said. “That's all I got to say.”
Most of the crowd at the game were Dominican fans, and they definitely booed on the last pitch that led Team USA to a win. Perdomo knows that that wasn't the deciding factor of the game, and they could have controlled the game earlier.
“It was the whole tournament, but we didn't lose the game right there. That's a part of the game, and I hope we do better next time.”
