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Venezuela sealed their first-ever World Baseball Classic (WBC) Championship title, stunning the 2017 champions and two-time runners-up, USA in a gripping title clash at Miami on Wednesday.
Venezuela outclassed the USA by 3-2. The USA was pretty flat and ordinary during the match, and it was during the eighth inning that a swat from Bryce Harper levelled the scores and kept the USA's chances of a second title alive. Bryce Harper turned the game on its head with a swat in the eighth inning, levelling the scores and silencing the Venezuela fans. After Luis Arraez drew a walk to lead off the ninth inning, the pinch-runner Javier Sanoja barely stole second base, Eugenio Suarez came in clutch with the most important hit of his career, which resulted in a go-ahead double, a difference maker in Venezuela's 3-2 win, as per ESPN. By retiring the American side, Daniel Palencia sealed Venezuela's first-ever WBC title and closed the door with a 99.7 mph fastball to strike out Roman Anthony. The atmosphere of joy, celebration and ecstacy erupted at the venue as the USA, which had finished runners-up to Japan in their previous title clash three years back, watched in agony. The teams had entered the final with a similar win-loss record of 5-1 in the tournament, with Venezuela dropping the final Group D game against the Dominican Republic before a comeback wins against three-time and defending champions Japan and Italy. The US had lost to Italy in the Pool B match before beating Canada and the Dominican Republic to make it to their third successive championship clash. The match took place amid some political tensions between two countries. On January 3, the USA conducted a military strike, capturing Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They were charged with crimes and transported to the USA, while Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's vice president, took charge of the country, with the president and his wife in custody of the USA. "Tonight everyone is going to be together," Venezuela manager Omar Lopez said as quoted by ESPN ahead of the match. "The whole country is going to be paralysed to watch the game, and together we are going to have better generations for our country, united with no colour, political colours or ideology," he added. The Miami metropolitan area, which has the highest concentration of immigrants from Venezuela, with 250,000-plus of them, thousands of fans turned up to the LoanDepot Park in Miami to cheer for the Venezuela team and overwhelmed the USA crowd with chants, instruments and cheers. (ANI)
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